Bond villain, Alan Cumming promotes safe-sex awareness
06-Jul-2009 • Actor News
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In recent years recorded cases of Aids, STDs and unwanted pregnancies have rocketed in the States.
In order to reverse the trend the Scottish star has been enlisted as the public face of a high-profile drive to convince people to use condoms.
In a promotional video the X-Men star tells of his sexual history, including threesomes with men and women, and urges people to always use protection before they "shag away".
The frank film, which is a part of an awareness campaign organised by MTV and Trojan Brand Condoms, shows Cumming alongside a number of his sexual partners.
In it the bearded James Bond actor introduces a former lover and states: "This is Matt. We had sex once and it was really great. Then Matt started going out with Heather and we all had sex together once which was really nice. We would have done it again but they split up."
He then recounts how Heather was linked to a number of other sexual partners including Jeremy.
Cumming states: "Jeremy went on a kind of binge, having sex with Tray, Kyle, Angela and me.
"I'd already had sex with Tray and we had a lovely threesome with Gail.
"Tray then had sex with Matt. Remember him?"
The video, entitled "Absent Abstinence", then grows more sombre and the 44-year-old states: "Why am I telling you all of this? Well, one of us is HIV positive. Aids will kill you, you have to wear a condom."
"Wearing a condom means that you are respecting yourself and your partner and making the world a better place."
The actor who made his US breakthrough playing Emcee in an award-winning revival of the musical Cabaret then takes a swipe at the former Bush administration's advice on how to cut down on STDs, saying: "Abstinence is a policy made up by the absent minded.
"Abstain? Make stains more like. Please wear a condom and shag away."
The Aberfeldy-born star said he was only too happy to support the campaign.
He said: "My friend Ned Stresen-Reuter and I were asked to make a film for the website Evolve One, Evolve All. We had a lot of fun putting it all together and what is better than to make something that is fun and puts a positive message out there into the world?"
Cumming, a guest star in the hit series Sex and the City, also revealed he was teaming up with an American chat show queen to create a follow-up video.
He said: "Ned and I are making a little film about a new condom called Testacy. The lovely Ricki Lake and I are going to be in a 1950s musical style eulogy to this marvellous new edition to the Trojan condom range."
A spokesman for the Evolve One, Evolve All campaign said: "We are delighted that Alan Cumming has lent his unique voice to the campaign by creating a digital video that describes the state of sexual health in the United States.
"The goal of the programme is to use new channels to inspire young people to talk about the issue and importance of using condoms."
"It's time for all Americans to take personal responsibility for the current state of sexual health in the country and stand up for change."
According to the US Government there are more than three million unintended teenage pregnancies in the States every year, along with 56,000 new cases of HIV.
Recent figures also show there are 65 million people living in the US who have incurable STDs.
Green leader Patrick Harvie, a former sexual health worker, was impressed by Cumming's film and said: "Many people have become complacent about HIV and sexual health, but in the past campaigns on the subject have been so serious you'd almost be left thinking that sex itself was a problem or that an active sex life was a bad thing. "This new campaign aims to encourage people to talk freely about safer sex and that has to be welcomed."
Cumming, who divides his time between New York, London and Scotland once described himself as "a frolicky pan-sexual sex symbol".
He married Hilary Lyon in 1985, the pair divorced in 1993.
The Scot, who has dual British and American citizenship, married graphic artist Grant Shaffer in a civil partnership in Greenwich, London, in 2007.
Cumming was made an OBE in the 2009 Birthday Honours list for services to film, theatre and the arts and to activism for equal rights for the gay and lesbian community.
He is a strong supporter of Barack Obama and spoke in favour of his White House campaign at the Democratic National Convention.
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