Alan Cumming: ‘The word brunch makes me think of white privilege’

Speaking about life in lockdown, actor says he has recorded a play and spent time working on a new book

Alan Cumming (Getty)

Actor Alan Cumming has offered some insight into his life during lockdown.

In a Q&A with The Observer, the Scottish-American actor described living in the Catskill Mountains with his husband (illustrator Grant Shaffer) and their dog.

Asked if he cooks, Cumming responded: “I hate ‘brunch’; it’s a weird, lazy word that makes me think of white privilege.

“I like to make vegan sausages and baked beans on a Sunday – it’s my concession to the b-word.”

The 55-year-old also revealed he’s been working on his book, which is “four years late”, and recorded a play for the National Theatre of Scotland on his phone.

Among Cumming’s most recent projects are the 2017 Golden Globe-nominated film Battle of the Sexes, starring Emma Roberts and Steve Carrell, and a cameo as himself in the hit US sitcom Broad City.

He also appears in a podcast with Chris Sweeney, Homo Sapiens.

Speaking to Australia’s The Sunday Project last week, Cumming said he would consider leaving the US – having become a citizen in 2008 – if Donald Trump is re-elected.

“If he gets in again, if America is stupid and corrupt enough to let him back in, I don’t want to be here. It’s really at that point,” he said.

“It’s so toxic and so dangerous. And he is so out of control.”