James McAvoy was left 'scunnered' by racial abuse hurled at his female co-stars while performing on stage in Glasgow.
The Scottish actor, who performed a two-week stint of Cyrano de Bergerac in Glasgow earlier this year, said most of the women of colour in his cast dealt with 'sexually explicit and violent' abuse on a 'daily basis'.
Speaking with British GQ about performing in Scotland, the 43-year-old actor said he was 'shocked and saddened' by the behaviour of locals and described the experience as 'horrible'.
He said: “The cast were amazing, it was brilliant. But I was really saddened, to be honest with you, because most of the women of colour in the cast got racially abused pretty much on a daily basis when we were there. I was just really saddened. I was absolutely shocked and dismayed and to use a Scottish word, scunnered.
“We were delighted to get to Brooklyn [where the play was to move to next], and leave Glasgow. It was horrible.”
The X-Men star admitted that the experience left him feeling like he 'didn't want to be there' and he says he was relieved to leave Scotland.
He added: “The narrative that Scottish people and the Scottish media want to hear when one of us has gone away and done all right, they like you to be back at home and go ‘It’s rare. It’s fantastic. I’m chuffed to be here and there’s no crowd like a Scottish crowd’.
"But I was going on stage every night going, ‘I don’t want us to be here. I brought this cast here and I don’t want to be here’.”
A spokesperson for Theatre Royal, Glasgow added: "Everyone at Theatre Royal was extremely upset by these incidents which happened elsewhere in Glasgow city centre. Diversity and inclusion remain a priority for us, and we offered appropriate support to the company at the time."
McAvoy, who touched on his love for Celtic FC during the profile and admitted to getting pedicures in his teams colours, was reminded of a viral tweet about him which attracted 80,000 likes.
It read: "Just been reminded of the time my aunty and her pal met James McAvoy in M&S on Byres Road and she went ‘oh god I bet this is your nightmare, two middle aged mums following you around the supermarket’ and he looked her dead in the eye and said ‘actually… it’s my biggest fantasy'."
Laughing, he told the publication: “It’s definitely not my ultimate fantasy. I do not remember this. I’m glad that somebody actually hears the s*** I say to them, because usually people always look glazed when I say things to ’em that I think is witty.”
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