‘The Good Wife’ Actor Charges Tea Party Imbued with ‘Homophobia and Racism’

September 25th, 2011 9:16 PM

Actor Alan Cumming (IMDb page), who was born in Britain and plays the scheming campaign manager “Eli Gold” on The Good Wife which has its season premiere tonight on CBS, contended on CNN’s Piers Morgan Tonight that the U.S. is “full of such hatred in terms of politics.” The bi-sexual actor conceded the Tea Party has “some quite sensible notions,” but he charged “that kind of seems to be an umbrella thing that just covers up a lot of real homophobia and racism.”

Referring to opposition to same-sex marriage, Cumming insisted: “I just think the Tea Party is out of touch with America, actually. That’s the sad thing for them to have to come to terms with.”

Back in March, he declared: “I wanted to become a U.S. citizen so that I could vote for [Barack] Obama.”

From the Thursday, September 22 Piers Morgan Tonight on CNN, on which Cumming appeared with three other actors from the show, including Christine Baranski:

PIERS MORGAN: What do you think of all these politicians, talking of politics, who on the Tea Party side of the Republicans, are coming out and saying same-sex marriage is disgusting and can't happen?

ALAN CUMMING: Well, I think if -- I think, you know, there's such -- America’s this country full of such hatred in terms of politics and the politics of hate is so rampant. And now the only kind of minority that can really be dealt with in that way is the gay population.

So it kind of makes sense. But, of course, I just think it's -- I think it's awful. I think that the Tea Party have some very, very -- some quite sensible notions, actually, when -- on paper. But also that kind of seems to be an umbrella thing that just covers up a lot of real homophobia and racism.

CHRISTINE BARANSKI: I think most of America has moved past it. I really do.

CUMMING: I do too.

MORGAN: I get the sense they are moving past it.

CUMMING: I just think the Tea Party is out of touch with America, actually. That's the sad thing for them to have to come to terms with.