Alan Cumming: I love true insults

Alan Cumming loves “true” insults.

The 56-year-old actor has revealed he considers the perfect insult to be something that’s “true as well as accurate”.

Discussing the perfect diss in a Q&A for Graydon Carter’s Air Mail, Alan shared: “I like it when they’re true as well as accurate.

“Like, ‘You are a disgrace’ or ‘You are unprofessional and disrespectful.’ I like when you don’t have to be mean, but are so much more hurtful because it is actually true.”

“Conversely, I really don’t like when someone says something true like ‘You are a w*****’ as an insult when, of course, we all are.”

Asked for his best piece of career advice, Alan replied: “Don’t f*** the talent.”

Alan previously admitted that he’s already exceeded his own career expectations.

The acclaimed actor – who has enjoyed success on stage and on screen – thought his options were fairly limited when he was a young performer on the Scottish theatre scene in the 1980s.

He recalled: “I was told that things were not available to me because of my Scottishness.

“America was never a thing. London was maybe a possibility. The idea that I would be doing what I’m doing now or have the opportunities that I have now, there was no one I knew who’d had that trajectory … those things didn’t happen to Scottish people.”

Alan also doubts that his sexuality harms his career prospects.

He explained: “The constant question I used to get was: ‘Do you think that coming out is bad for your career in Hollywood?’ It’s such a ridiculous question. I don’t think people in Basingstoke or Idaho are not going to go and see a movie because someone in it is gay. I really don’t think they care.”