Piers Morgan has launched a scathing attack on Alan Cumming after the actor announced he has handed back his OBE this week.
The Scottish star revealed he was giving up the prestigious honour, that he received at Buckingham Palace in 2009, over his 'misgivings about the toxicity of the empire.'
"I returned my award, explained my reasons and reiterated my great gratitude for being given it in the first place. I’m now back to being plain old Alan Cumming again," the US Traitors host told fans.
The move irked outspoken TV host Piers Morgan who has branded Cumming, 58, an 'attention-seeking twerp'.
Sharing a link to a news article on Cumming's decision, Morgan hit out: "What a pathetic, disingenuous, disloyal, attention-seeking little twerp.”
Earlier int he week Cumming explained his motivations to fans, admitting he'd had a rethink about his title following the death of the Queen.
He was presented with the Order of the British Empire title for services to the arts and his LGBT+ activism.
Cumming said that while he is 'very proud to be British, and galvanised as an American” he could no longer live with the honour.
"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,” he wrote on Instagram.
“Also, thankfully, times and laws in the US have changed, and the great good the award brought to the LGBTQ+ cause back in 2009 is now less potent than the misgivings I have being associated with the toxicity of empire (OBE stands for Officer of the British Empire).”
Cumming is not the first star to hand back the civil service award.
Fellow actor Michael Sheen handed back his honour in December 2020.
Sheen explained he'd returned his OBE after undertaking extensive research into Welsh history and feeling he'd be a 'hypocrite' to ignore what he'd learned.
“I remember sitting there going, ‘Well I have a choice: I either don’t give this lecture and hold on to my OBE or I give this lecture and I have to give my OBE back,’” he said.
Former Channel 4 newsreader Jon Snow also turned down an OBE in 2000.
Snow said he did not believe journalists should receive honours from the Royal Family.
He went on to make a documentary in 2002 entitled Secrets of the Honours System, looking to uncover those who had bribed people in power in order to receive an honour.
Beatles legend John Lennon also handed back his MBE in 1965, writing to the Queen: "I am returning my MBE as a protest against Britain's involvement in the Nigeria-Biafra thing, against our support of America in Vietnam and against Cold Turkey slipping down the charts. With love. John Lennon of Bag."
