Death threat terror for actor
SCOTS actor Alan Cumming has revealed he was subjected to death threats for criticising former US President Donald Trump.
The New York-based performer, 56, said he was “really scared” towards the end of President Trump’s term and had previously threatened to flee the country if he was re-elected.
He described the shooting tragedy involving Alec Baldwin as a wake-up call to excessive hours in the film industry. And he blasted double standards for the tolerance for men bullying staff in workplaces, claiming women who were demanding got called names for it while men were allowed to push the limits beyond what was acceptable behaviour - and would be praised for it. Alan said: “As someone who is living in America right now, I am very aware that the situation we had with Trump could easily come back and come back worse.
“At the end of the Trump era, I was really scared.
“I was getting death threats for posting things.
“It was a really terrible time. “It was very, very polarised. “I felt like ‘Why am I living in a country I’m scared to be in just for me voicing my political views?’ “Luckily now, the pendulum has swung a little bit and it feels like there is some decency and leadership.
“But I don’t take anything for granted.
“If you come from a marginalised group in society – I include women in that and queer people definitely – you’ve got to be vigilant.
“We’ve always had to fight and fight to retain our rights.”
Alan, originally from Aberfeldy, Perth and Kinross, also weighed in on the independence debate and suggested Scots were being treated like “oiks asking for too much” by Westminster.
He added: “I feel we have been derided and abused by the Westminster Government.
“Even if you don’t feel the same way I do about self-determination, how much worse could it actually be to have the sensible people who have been doing a good job governing Scotland contin-uing and going the whole hog.
“If you look at Nicola and Boris she is just in a different league. I can’t imagine why anyone would think otherwise.”