Dairy Queen Sends Alan Cumming Vegan Ice Cream, Four Years Later
When Alan Cumming first did a campaign for PETA back in 2016 he was photographed in a T-shirt that read: Not a Dairy Queen. It was an inside joke since the openly gay actor wrote a letter to the CEO of the soft serve chain urging him to add a vegan option to the menu.
This week he got his way. In what could only be called a victory for the ice cream chain and the actor, Dairy Queen sent Cumming a box of their new vegan ice cream, and it was also a long-overdue win for consumers, the planet, and animals. This week you can celebrate by heading over to DQ and ordering your vegan ice cream treat, and cheers to Cumming for making it happen.
The new vegan flavor called Dilly Bar—made of coconut milk-based ice cream with vegan chocolate—goes on sale at Dairy Queens across the country, starting this week.
“It’s a sign of the times when Dairy Queen goes dairy-free,” Cumming said when he got his first box of Dilly Bars. “I’m thrilled to join PETA in saying, ‘YAS, QUEEN!’ to DQ for responding to the demand for a vegan option that’s healthier, better for the planet, and kinder to cows.”
Cumming, who is Scottish, a vegan, a foodie, and an activist, has enjoyed a long and varied career as a singer, actor, filmmaker, and advocate —who prides himself in being an outspoken, humanitarian artist who works tirelessly for causes he believes in. He told an interviewer: "My career thrives not in spite of my activism, but because of it."
When his show Instinct aired, it featured Cumming as an openly gay character. He told an interviewer that Americans have two reactions to his precedent-setting role — pleased that a major network has finally made a drama whose lead character is gay, and "appalled" that it's taken so long.
"Folks are appalled because they honestly can't believe it's never happened before," said Cumming, who has collected over 40 humanitarian awards for his work on behalf of causes he cares about.
"I'm proud of the show, proud of the fact that [my character's] sexuality is way down the list of the things you know about him," Cumming said of the character he played, Dylon Reinhart, who is married in the show to another man, presented evenhandedly as one trait in a long roster of attributes.
"I think actors, especially in America, are overly cautious expressing themselves honestly, in a variety of ways," he once said. "And there's a danger in that. It makes you generic and bland. The fact that you speak out, that you are willing to say things, to use your voice, I think it gives you an identity. I've benefited from that."
Missed Instinct? You may know Cumming from Spy Kids or any number of other TV shows (The Good Wife,) or movies (Circle of Friends, Emma, Eyes Wide Shut, GoldenEye, and X-Men 2) he has appeared in over the decades. (This writer's personal favorite: His role in Cabaret, which was epic and brilliant.
But now you will also know him as the man who helped nudge Dairy Queen into the modern age, with a vegan option. Says Cumming: "It’s no surprise that the dairy alternatives market is expected to reach $19.5 billion in value by 2020. Dairy Queen has the opportunity to broaden its appeal by offering healthier, ‘greener,’ animal-friendly vegan treats.” Yass, Dairy Queen.
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