Alan Cumming says he was ‘surprised’ by the reaction to returning OBE honour: ‘I kind of broke the internet’

Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter for all the latest entertainment news and reviews Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Alan Cumming has admitted he is “surprised” by the reaction to the news that he had returned his OBE. Cumming, who has US as well as British citizenship, said that he had received the OBE for “activism for equal rights for the gay and lesbian community, USA” at a time when same-sex marriage was still illegal in the US and the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy was in place in the military. Cumming ‘recently’ returned the honour The Good Wife star reshared the statement he gave in 2009, in which he said that receiving the honour made him “very proud to be British, and galvanised as an American”. Plan auto-renews until cancelled Try for free Cumming said that his eyes had been “opened” to the “way the British empire profited at the expense of indigenous peoples across the world”.