Alan Cumming’s birthday gift to himself was returning an award from the late Queen Elizabeth II.
The Scottish actor, 58, is no longer an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.
The queen gave him the OBE award in 2009 for his work as an actor and as an LGBTQ rights activist during her birthday honors celebration.
The “Good Wife” alum marked his birthday on Friday with an Instagram post explaining why he decided to hand back the OBE.
He said that his decision is his way of distancing himself from the historical “toxicity” of the British Empire.
“I returned my OBE,” he began in the Jan. 27 post. “Fourteen years ago, I was incredibly grateful to receive it in the 2009 Queen’s birthday honours list, for it was awarded not just for my job as an actor but ‘for activism for equal rights for the gay and lesbian community, USA.’”
Cumming’s post included the statement he gave in 2009 after receiving the honor as well as his reasoning for wanting to distance himself from the monarchy today. He noted that in 2009, gay marriage wasn’t legal in the US, and the country still had a ways to go in ensuring equal rights for all citizens.
“The fight for equality for the LGBT community in the US is something I am very passionate about, and I see this honour as encouragement to go on fighting for what I believe is right and for what I take for granted as a UK citizen,” Cumming’s 2009 statement read.
“Thank you to the Queen and those who make up her Birthday honours list for bringing attention to the inaction of the US government on this issue. It makes me very proud to be British, and galvanised as an American,’” his statement from nearly 15 years ago ended.
The “Traitors” host became an American citizen in 2008.
The “X2” star went on to explain in the caption of his b-day ‘gram how the queen’s death in September 2022 had brought to light “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,” adding that the new insights “really opened my eyes.”
Of the strides the US has since made in LGBTQ rights, Cumming commented that “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 [the] empire.”
In concluding the revelation, Cumming wrote, “So 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.
“Happy birthday to me!” he added.
The move makes Cumming the latest in a slew of entertainers to have given up honors bestowed on them by the monarchy — John Lennon and Welsh actor Michael Sheen among them.
All four of The Beatles were dubbed Members of the Order of the British Empire in 1965 — however, Lennon gave his back in 1969 to protest England’s role in the Nigerian civil war.
Sheen, 53, was awarded his honor in 2009 before surrendering it in 2020 due to learning about Welsh history and Britain’s relationship with the country.
