Alan Cumming: ‘Who’s to blame for Brexit? Stupid. English. People.’
AWARD-WINNING Scottish actor Alan Cumming has blamed the Brexit vote on “stupid English people” as he expressed his shock and frustration at last month’s referendum result. In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Herald magazine, the Aberfeldy-born actor said he was “appalled” that Scotland now faced the prospect of being dragged out of the EU against its will.
Cumming, who won the Best Theatre Actor award at the Sunday Herald’s inaugural Culture Awards earlier this month, said he had feared for such an outcome where Scotland “would want to stay”, as he reflected on the decisive 62 per cent vote to remain in Scotland.
The actor, who now lives in the United States, said he had also expected this would be cancelled out by how the UK as a whole voted.
He said: “I was appalled when I heard the result. And I have three words to sum it up. Stupid. English. People.”
Cumming, referring to a TV interview he did back in 2014, said: “I did an interview for STV news a couple of years ago and I said there would be a referendum on the EU and Britain would vote to leave, but Scotland would want to stay.”
But Cumming, a high-profile celebrity backer of the Yes Scotland campaign ahead of the 2014 referendum, said Scotland’s impending exit from the EU also showed the failure of the Better Together campaign argument that the only way to secure Scotland’s place in Europe was to vote against independence.
Cumming, an Emmy-winning actor, said: “I hope people will see the irony in that one of the major reasons the Yes vote didn’t win was people were scared we wouldn’t be allowed in the EU if we were independent. And now we’re not allowed to be in the EU because we’re part of Britain.”
A former Labour voter, who defected to the SNP, Cumming added: “How many times do we have to be slapped in the face by Westminster?”.
Cumming, who is known for his work from Shakespeare to Cabaret to X-Men, as well as the TV series The Good Wife, also spoke proudly about being a “product of the Scottish education system”.
The actor also said he was more accepted as a Scot in America than in London, in another swipe at England.
He said: “The Americans just don’t talk about your Scottishness in a derogatory way as they do in London.
“And I love this. I love the fact I’m a product of the Scottish education system. I feel I represent Scotland in a way.”
However, David Coburn, Ukip Scotland MEP, suggested Cumming’s residence in the US meant he would not be affected by the EU referendum result.
Coburn said: “Why would it bother him as he appears to prefer living in the US to Scotland.”