Sean Connery Is Sore

05/17/1999 at 12:00 AM EDT

Sean Connery still sounds upset about being passed over for one of Britain's highest honors -- a knighthood. "I think it lacks class on their part," the Scottish-born actor was quoted as saying in Monday's Glasgow Evening Times. The Scottish National Party accused the British government in February of rejecting Connery because he is a longtime advocate of independence for Scotland. Connery told the newspaper that it was "strange" how he'd played a knight in last summer's film, "The Avengers." Describing the character of Sir August De Wynter as "a scoundrel, a blackmailer and a cheat," Connery said: "It makes you wonder at times what exactly is the criteria to qualify."