Actor Alan Cumming Returns British Royal Honor Over ‘Toxicity’ Of Empire

Scottish actor Alan Cumming has returned a special British honor granted by the late Queen Elizabeth II because of his “misgivings about the toxicity” of the British Empire, he announced Friday on social media.

The film, TV and Broadway star who’s currently hosting the Peacock series “Traitors” was granted the title Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire at an investiture ceremony in 2009.

It honored both his acting career and his “activism for equal rights for the gay and lesbian community, USA,” he noted in an Instagram post Friday, which was his 58th birthday.

But he announced in the same post: “I returned my OBE.”

“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,” Cumming wrote.

He said the “great good” the OBE award “brought to the LGBTQ+ cause back in 2009” before same-sex marriage was legal in the U.S. “is now less potent than the misgivings I have being associated with the toxicity of [the British] empire.”

“I’m now back to being plain old Alan Cumming again. Happy birthday to me!” he wrote.

A number of artists and others have returned the same award or similar honors to protest historical actions of the British Empire and its monarchy, as well as policies and activities of the British government.

All four of The Beatles were made Members of the British Empire in 1965. But John Lennon returned his honor four years later.

“Your Majesty,” he wrote, “I am returning this MBE in protest against Britain’s involvement in the Nigeria-Biafra thing, against our support of America in Vietnam and against [Lennon’s song] Cold Turkey slipping down the charts.”

It was signed: “With love, John Lennon.”