Alan Cumming has spoken candidly about living in the United States during Donald Trump’s second tenure as president.
The Scottish actor holds dual US and UK citizenship, and currently resides in New York with his husband, the visual artist Grant Shaffer.
Later this week, the Emmy winner is due to make his debut in Tip Toe, a new Russell T Davies drama which takes an unflinching look at modern life in an ever-divided world.
Speaking to Radio Times to promote his new show, Alan claimed: “Of course, there are kind people in America, and I live in New York, which is a different kettle of fish to the rest of America.”
“But the government…” he continued. “It is a fascist country and I’m paying taxes to it. It’s horrible.”
Riffing on Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan, Alan remarked: “Make America like the 1950s again, more like. When Black people would serve you, you could do whatever you liked, and anyone who you didn’t like, you would get the boys to duff them up. That’s what they want. That’s what they’re creating.”
“It’s not a new thing for people to be so bigoted and intolerant – it always has been like that. It’s just been suppressed,” he then insisted.
“What’s shocking now is how public and blatant it is and how comfortable people feel agreeing with it.”
Last year, Alan told HuffPost UK: “People are scared. Especially in America – people are terrified to speak out. You should be scared! You could get attacked, you could get deported… it’s just awful, it’s a terrifying time. If you speak up and are a voice of dissent, you risk a lot.”
Referring to a speech he made in support of trans rights on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the former Baftas host said: “After Kimmel, my publicist was saying, ‘you’re going to get deported, you’re going to get deported’.”
“There was such a big response to it, and all I was doing was telling the truth and speaking up! I wasn’t being insulting, I was just telling the truth. And then I realised how privileged I am – in that I have another life, I have a life [in the UK],” he claimed.
“I have a home here, I have a passport, I spend more time here, actually, than I do in America right now. And so, I feel, I guess, privileged and a bit protected by that. If I did get deported, if something happened in that way, then I wouldn’t be sent to a Venezuelan prison, I would be sent to Scotland.”
He added: “In a funny way, it made me realise that I have a duty to keep speaking up. And I want to keep doing that.”