'Celebrating joy at NYC Tartan parade is my protest', says Alan Cumming

The Scottish Tartan Parade marched down New York City’s 6th Avenue on Saturday in celebration of Scotland and Scottish culture, but Grand Marshal and actor Alan Cumming said it was also his form of protest against Donald Trump.

While the parade celebrated the Big Apple’s links to Scotland and its culture, legacy and values, Americans were protesting just a few streets away in one of the many so-called Hands Off! demonstrations against the Trump administration.

Cumming said that celebrating joy is his form of protest.

“Ironically, we’re celebrating all the things we have in Scotland, and alas, those are the things that are not here in America, and people are protesting to get them,” the actor said.

“So this is my form of protest – having joy about walking the streets of New York City right now, still being able to be free and queer and alive.”

Speaking before the event, Cumming also criticised the Trump administration for “tanking the economy” and “not looking after the people they said they were going to look after who voted for them”.

“The only people I think are benefitting are the 1%, the billionaires, the oligarchs. There’s not much of a silver lining,” Cumming said.

Alongside the simultaneous American protests, the NYC Tartan Week celebration came just days after Trump slapped the UK with a minimum 10% tariff on exports to the US.

First Minister John Swinney, who is also in New York for Tartan Week, has strongly condemned these tariffs as “damaging” for Scotland and said it had cast a cloud over the event.

The moves have caused share prices across Europe and Asia to slump as markets react to the worldwide tariffs.

In London, the FTSE 100 index is down 4.9%, and even US futures were sharply down – hinting that Wall Street shares will fall when US markets open on Monday.

Speaking to STV News, Cumming said it’s more important than ever to try to build up the links between people and nations.

“What we’re doing here is celebrating Scottishness and also the link between Scotland and New York,” he said.

“I think this is my protest. By the very nature of celebrating something, you say you’re proud of it, and you think it’s great.

“Black joy, trans joy, queer joy, all those joys are forms of protest because people are managing to find joy in the very act of living with all the kind of obstacles they have against them.”

Cumming led the Tartan Parade alongside John Swinney on Saturday.

The penultimate Tartan Week event celebrates NYC’s links to Scotland and Scottish culture.

Swinney, along with Scottish secretary Ian Murray and others, has travelled to America to strengthen ties and drum up investment in Scotland, advertising it as a “world-class place to do business.”