Alan Cumming has summarised Britain’s decision to leave the European Union in three little words.
The Scottish actor, who is now an American citizen, appeared unrepentant as he told the Sunday Herald: “I was appalled when I heard the result and I have three words to sum it up. Stupid. English. People.”
Cumming, who has previously campaigned for Scottish independence, added: “I also said we’d have another (independence) referendum. Now, I hope people will see the irony in that one of the major reasons the Yes vote didn’t win was people were scared we wouldn’t be allowed in the EU if we were independent. And now we’re not allowed to be in the EU because we’re part of Britain.
“How many times do we have to be slapped in the face by Westminster?”
The 51-year-old’s comments have been criticised. Former Labour MP Tom Harris, who led the Scottish Vote Leave campaign, told the Express the remarks were “offensive.”
He added: “The SNP have tried to claim their campaigning, their organisation, is not anti-English – then Alan Cumming blows it out the water with anti-English bigotry.
“If the English were stupid to vote for Leave, then what does that make the one million Scots who voted Leave?
“It is such a horrible, nasty, divisive thing to say and doesn’t do the Nationalist cause any good.”
Murdo Fraser, the Mid Fife and Scotland MSP for the Scottish Conservatives, told The Courier: “Language like this is deeply unhelpful and only serves to serve up tensions.
“We can only imagine the reaction if someone used this language in relation to Muslim or Jewish people.”
Cumming, who describes Scottish independence as “an inevitability”, has since apologised for causing offence. He [somewhat passive-aggressively] added: “I guess I’m just a daft jock who assumes people still find humour amusing.”
Yet, as The Spectator points out, “Still for all of Cumming’s pearls of wisdom, Mr S suspects his words would hold a bit more sway if he actually lived in the United Kingdom.”