Alan Cumming: ‘I feel the hatred towards myself’

Alan Cumming said he feels prejudice towards the LGBT+ community has become increasingly palpable in recent years.

The Scottish actor stars in Russell T Davies’s new Channel 4 drama Tip Toe, which explores the dangers and prejudice facing LGBT+ people today.

The 61-year-old actor and presenter, known for Cabaret and hosting the US version of The Traitors, said he has experienced significant hatred directed at him on social media.

“I do feel it quite palpably at times,” he told the Press Association.

“I live in a very privileged, liberal queer bubble, of course, but sticking your head above the parapet to shout things means that I feel the hatred, or certainly I see it on my phone, towards myself.

“In my real life, thankfully, I don’t encounter much of it.”

Cumming, who owns a gay bar and club in New York, said his staff have also noticed a shift.

“Even in New York, which is very much a liberal bubble, I’ve noticed things shifting,” he said.

“In my club, the young people working there are talking about feeling more anxious about taking the subway and going about their lives.”

In Tip Toe, Cumming plays Leo, the owner of a bar in Manchester’s Gay Village who becomes embroiled in a feud with his troubled next-door neighbour, played by David Morrissey.

The series explores mob mentality and the most corrosive forces facing LGBT+ people today.

“It was interesting to explore all of that in a way that isn’t sensationalist for the sake of it, though it is sensational, and rightly so, but also nuanced,” he said.

“What I loved was how flawed the character is, how broken he is underneath it all.

“He’s very lonely and fragile, even though he presents with bravado.

“I also loved that he is HIV positive, and that it only really comes out through his anger at how people with HIV/Aids are treated.

“In a way, he becomes an everyman figure for queer rights and the queer movement, spanning a significant part of a person’s life experience.

“That made it a really interesting role to play.

“And it felt like the perfect time in my life to do it, it really was a convergence of many things.”

Davies adds that he believes the world is significantly more dangerous for minorities than it was 25 years ago, arguing that the online environment has played a major role in amplifying hate and division.

“I do think it’s absolutely the fault of this online world, completely,” said the 63-year-old Welsh screenwriter.

“I’ve been writing about that for a long time.

“Around 2015, I wrote something called Screwdriver, which was on the Channel 4 website, about the pornography children were watching.

“Then we listen to surveys saying children’s mental health is declining, and I wonder how that’s happening.

“Every day we’re being told things are going wrong, every survey, every crime report, every fact seems to suggest we’re in trouble.

“And yes, I think they’re right.”

Tip Toe will premiere on Channel 4 on Sunday.