Alan Cumming’s birthday present was the return of an award from the late Queen Elizabeth II.
The 58-year-old Scottish actor is not an officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.
The Queen awarded him an OBE in 2009 for his work as an actor and LGBTQ rights activist during her birthday celebration.
The graduate of “Good Wife” celebrated his birthday on Friday Instagram a post explaining why he decided to donate his OBE.
He said his decision was a approach to distance himself from the “toxicity” of the British Empire.
“I returned my OOBE,” he began in a January 27 post. “Fourteen years ago, I used to be incredibly grateful to receive him on the 2009 Queen’s Birthday Honors list, as he was awarded not just for my work as an actor, but additionally “for my activism for equal rights for the gay and lesbian community in the US.”
Cumming’s Instagram post included a statement he made in 2009 upon receiving the honor, in addition to his rationale for wanting to distance himself from today’s monarchy. He noted that gay marriage was not legal in the US in 2009, and the country still has a long approach to go relating to ensuring equal rights for all residents.
“Fighting for equality for the LGBT community in the United States is something I’m very keen about and I see this honor as an encouragement to proceed fighting for what I think is right and what I take without any consideration as a British citizen.” Read Cumming’s statement from 2009.
“Thanks to the Queen and those that compose her birthday list for drawing attention to the US government’s inaction on this issue. It makes me very proud to be British and energized as an American,” he concluded his 2009 statement. Host of “Traitors”. he became an American citizen in 2008.
The “X2” star continued to debate how the Queen’s death in September 2022 sparked “conversations about the role of the monarchy and particularly how the British Empire benefited at the expense (and death) of indigenous peoples around the world.” He also commented on the progress made by the United States on LGBTQ rights.
“Fortunately, times and laws have modified in the United States, and the great good the award dropped at the LGBTQ+ cause in 2009 is now lower than the concerns I even have about toxicity. [the] empire,” he wrote.
“So I returned the award, explained the reasons and again expressed my great gratitude for awarding it in the first place. Now I’m just plain old Alan Cumming again.
Comfortable birthday to me!” finished his post.
Alan Cumming adds to the list of artists who’ve returned honors from the monarchy, including John Lennon and Welsh actor Michael Sheen.
The Beatles were made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1965, nonetheless Lennon turned himself in in 1969 to protest England’s role in the Nigerian Civil War.
Sheen, 53, received the award in 2009 and gave it back in 2020 as he learned about Wales’ history and Britain’s relationship with the country.