Why Billy Porter ‘ won’t shut up’ about politics
Billy Porter doesn’t just show up. The 50- year- old Emmy winner, theater veteran and red- carpet star goes in.
Take his performance on the first night of the virtual Democratic National Convention. Decked out in a black velvet Thom Browne number featuring floor- length tails and a gigantic bow, Porter performed a version of the 1960s anthem “For What It’s Worth” that was equal parts performance art and protest. It was smart, a little bit strange and so of the moment that viewers either loved it or didn’t know what to make of it.
But most importantly, it was very Porter. The “Pose” actor and Pittsburgh native has used his new platform to put his unique stamp on any and everything in his reach, including the stuffy realm of presidential politics. Porter, who’s making new music and working on his memoir, isn’t one to hold back. The Washington Post spoke to him about his politics, his art and why the two are forever intertwined.
Q: Your performance at the convention was different from
the typical get- up- and- sing routine. How’d it happen?
A: I have been traumatized for the past four years, as most of us have been. I recorded “For What It’s Worth” the day after the Emmys last September because I knew I wanted a toe in the market, that that would be my way of contributing. No one could have predicted this pandemic. But my goal was to be in the political arena with my song. Blessedly, the Biden campaign has taken a liking to it and taken a liking to me. They came out to this house I’m renting on Long Island and put up a green screen. And I just did it. That’s just what you do.
Q: Conventions are usually
these big boisterous affairs with all the noise. But your performance was much more intimate, just you and a green screen with Stephen Stills spliced in.
A: I felt like personally the convention was actually more interesting and more impactful because there was no audience. You had to lean in. I heard a lot of stuff that I don’t think I would have heard with a crowd screaming. I thought it was better than usual.
Q: Really? Why? A: Because all it is is a bubble where we get to cheerlead each other, and we don’t need to cheerlead each other. We need policies. We need to stop taking a bag of popcorn to a gunfight.
Q: Isn’t that what the pandemic has done on a larger scale for activism? Stripped everything away and made people focus?
A: We’re just inundated with images all day, every day. And I really thought we had become desensitized. The outrage was not happening, because that’s all we saw, and nobody cared anymore. And then George Floyd happened, and all of a sudden it was like, wait, wait, wait.
Q: You’ve talked about art being inherently political and healing. There was, and still is, this idea that artists, athletes and anyone with an entertainment platform should keep their opinions to themselves.
A: First of all, historically, the artist has been the conduit for society to heal and to propel change. We speak truth to power. That’s why people who are in positions of political power attack the arts first. The best art comes out of these kinds of dystopian moments. I am having a creative explosion right now. So it is so gross to me, it is so disgusting, this shut- upandsing narrative. ... Everybody gets an opinion, whether you think what I do matters or not.
Q: Let’s talk about selfcare, because you’ve been an advocate for that, too. And as we focus and turn inward, a lot of folks are having to deal with themselves.
A: I am in a very particular situation. The past couple of years of my life, my career has exploded in a way where I have become more of a celebrity, I guess. There’s a lot of energy that swirls around you. Essentially, I have to get out of the city and get to a space where I can breathe. That’s what I had to learn. It’s just a new way of moving through the world after 30- plus years of being in this business and being a gypsy. So at 50 years old, I have finally got my first house. I actually closed this morning.
Q: What else have you learned?
A: What boundaries are. What balance is. No is a complete sentence. I don’t have to take every job. The rug isn’t going to be pulled out from under me. You know, all that stuff.
Q: Why is all that so important?
A: We have to find a way to take care of ourselves so that we can be effective in the fight that is ahead of us for our democracy. This is the fight for our lives. It’s a fight that’s deeper than any one I’ve seen in my lifetime.
Q: And you’ve been in some fights. You talk about being the first generation post- civil rights and then coming out as gay in 1985 and joining that fight. There have been many comparisons made to the coronavirus pandemic and the AIDS crisis. What do you see?
A: Everybody I know has [ post- traumatic stress disorder]. AIDS was a plague that was killing a particular group of people, and the government didn’t care. That’s the same. Black and brown people are dying at a higher rate, and nobody’s doing anything about it. That’s called genocide, y’all. That is on purpose. Period. And the ones who are dying at a higher rate are the ones who would be voting against you.
Q: Do you think people are truly paying attention to that?
A: I have no idea, but they better. We better figure it out. Because this is it. November is it. If we don’t get [ President Donald Trump] out, America will fall. Everybody forgets Rome fell. We are at the brink. Pay attention. We’ve enabled him to get exactly where he is.
Q: How do you think the country ended up here?
A: It’s a really complicated landscape to take in. And so the more complicated you make it, the more people turn off. Voter suppression is not just slowing down the mail system. When you don’t think your vote matters, that’s voter suppression.