Scottish actor Alan Cumming has been condemned for incendiary comments in which he blamed “stupid English people” for the Brexit vote.
The Perthshire-born film star faced a backlash today for stoking up anti-English sentiment in an interview with the Sunday Herald.
He said: “I was appalled when I heard the result and I have three words to sum it up. Stupid. English. People.”
Mr Cumming, who grew up in Carnoustie and now lives in the US, made the comments as he spoke out against Remain-supporting Scotland being taken out of the EU on the strength of votes from England.
In Scotland, 1.66 million Remain voters trumped the 1.02 million who wanted to Leave.
England had 15.19 million voters backing Brexit, compared with 13.26 million who voted to stay.
Murdo Fraser, the Mid Fife and Scotland MSP for the Scottish Conservatives, said Mr Cumming was out of line in making those remarks.
“Language like this is deeply unhelpful and only serves to stir up tensions,” he told The Courier.
“We can only imagine the reaction if someone used this language in relation to Muslim or Jewish people.
“I hope that Alan Cumming will reflect on his choice of words and regret them.”
Political comedian Matt Forde tweeted: “Alan Cumming ignoring the English voters who agreed with him and the Scottish voters who didn’t. Lovely nationalism.”
Fraser Stewart, a commentator for Common Space, said: “Imagine this quote said ‘stupid Pakistani people’, or ‘stupid poor people’. There’s really no difference.”
Mr Cumming, who has appeared in the James Bond film Goldeneye, X2: X-Men United and the TV series The Good Wife, was one of the Yes campaign’s biggest celebrity supporters in 2014.