Alan Cumming Returns British Honor Over ‘Toxicity of Empire’
The Scottish actor Alan Cumming has returned an honor from Britain’s government and monarchy, he announced on Instagram on Friday, writing in a post that he did not want to be associated with the “toxicity of empire.”
Mr. Cumming, the host of the American version of the reality competition show “The Traitors,” joins a tradition of people rejecting the Officer of the Order of the British Empire, or O.B.E., and similar honors, such as knighthoods or damehoods.
The order is given to reward people for their achievements and contributions in a variety of fields. A committee of civil servants and people who do not work in the government recommends people for the honor. The committee’s recommendations are given to the prime minister, who then gives the list to the king, who awards the honors.
Mr. Cumming was awarded his O.B.E. in 2009, and he wrote in an Instagram post marking his 58th birthday on Friday that he had “recently” returned the honor. He said that he was “incredibly grateful” to have received the honor because it recognized his gay rights activism in the United States, where he is a citizen, in addition to his work as an actor, which has included film, television and stage roles.
He said that the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September, and the conversations it provoked about the role of the monarchy, had prompted him to reconsider the honor. The end of the queen’s seven-decade reign reignited discussions about the legacy of British colonialism and the monarchy’s role in the slave trade.
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“The Queen’s death and the ensuing conversations about the role of monarchy and especially the way the British Empire profited at the expense (and death) of Indigenous peoples across the world really opened my eyes,” Mr. Cumming wrote. “Also, thankfully, times and laws in the U.S. have changed, and the great good the award brought to the L.G.B.T.Q. + cause back in 2009 is now less potent than the misgivings I have being associated with the toxicity of empire.”
Mr. Cumming, who was recently in the television series “Schmigadoon!” and “The Good Fight,” said that when he had returned the honor, he had explained himself and “reiterated my great gratitude for being given it in the first place.”
People routinely reject the O.B.E. and similar honors when they are first offered, including the higher honors of knighthoods and damehoods, which allow people to use the title Sir or Dame. Far fewer people have accepted, then later rejected, the distinctions.
In November 1969, John Lennon returned his Member of the Order of the British Empire, or M.B.E., to protest Britain’s role in the Nigerian civil war and British political support for the Vietnam War. Mr. Lennon said that he had been mulling returning the award for several years and had been waiting for “an event to tie up with it.”
In 2012, the British government released a list of 277 people who had rejected a British honor between 1951 and 1999, including the authors Roald Dahl and Aldous Huxley and the artist Lucian Freud. (The list appeared to be partial.) People who have turned down these honors have provided reasons including opposition to the empire’s legacy of colonialism, the monarchy in general or the government’s policies.
David Bowie turned down an award naming him a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, or C.B.E., in 2000 because, he explained, “I seriously don’t know what it’s for.”
John Oliver, the late-night television host, said in an interview on the NBC show “Late Night with Seth Meyers” that he had rejected the O.B.E. because it was “loaded.” Mr. Oliver said: “The ‘B.E.’ part of that is a hell of a thing to want after your surname.”
