“The Traitors” host Alan Cumming pushed for more queer contestants in season 3 after Peppermint’s early exit

"There should be trans and queer people everywhere," says Entertainment Weekly's Pride cover star, "until people just shut up and stop being so stupid and hateful about it."

Alan Cumming says The Traitors is the "campiest thing since Christmas," but it isn't queer enough for the reality series host — at least not yet.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly for our 2024 LGBTQ+ Pride cover story, the Tony winner is upfront about how the early banishment of RuPaul’s Drag Race alum Peppermint wasn't a "good look in the world we live in," given that she was the only trans person — and one of the only queer people — on season 2 of the Peacock hit.

"I think it was just by chance," Cumming says of there being no ulterior motive behind the contestants targeting Peppermint, "I don't think that they had a disadvantage, but it would be better if there were more [queer] people there, so it didn't seem like they were token."

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With that in mind, Cumming says he "actually lobbied quite hard" for producers to increase the number of LGBTQ+ people in the Traitors season 3 cast, which includes queer contestants Bob Harper (The Biggest Loser), Bob The Drag Queen (RuPaul’s Drag Race), Carolyn Wiger (Survivor), Chrishell Stause (Selling Sunset), Gabby Windey (The Bachelorette), and Lord Ivar Mountbatten (British Royal).

"On a purely statistical basis, I think [the previous casts have been] very diverse racially and gender-wise, but there just wasn't enough LGBTQ people represented," he explains. "It's exposure therapy, it's visibility. And you have to do it in every small way you can. We need to see that trans people are everywhere. They felt more comfortable to be visible in the last couple of decades. But historically, there's always a backlash against change, and we are in the midst of a huge one right now. My response to that is to push back and say, 'No, we're not going to hide. Here are those people.' And if I have a chance to help do that by just saying to the producers of The Traitors, 'We need to make sure there's more queer and trans people on the show,' I will."

Related: Alan Cumming's most fabulous The Traitors season 2 looks, dissected

"We've just got to be more representative," he continues. "And even if there are more…. I think, 'Why can't we have more people on these shows than actually are, percentage-wise, in society?' Why would that be so bad? It's happened for centuries the other way around with white straight men. I mean, why are we being so shackled by our quotas? There should be trans and queer people everywhere, and people of color everywhere, until people just shut up and stop being so stupid and hateful about it."

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.