Billy Porter On “Tamron Hall” (FULL INTERVIEW)

please welcome my friend Billy Porter [Applause] thank you it's so good to be here I'm so excited for you Billy tweeted overnight so he tweeted about not being an overnight sensation she said so many of my new fans tell me that they didn't know I can sing while I put together a little Spotify playlist I mean you've been at this and doing it at high excellence 30 years 30 years yes yeah I started I get are trained at Carnegie Mellon University in the drama department and a second semester of my senior year I moved to New York to be in the original company of Miss Saigon that was 1991 yeah so I've been going over there and before that sit in the commercial break playing one of your songs and I said that's Billy Porter and this woman on Phobos that yes it is about the journey and I tell people all the time you can look at the end of the book but what are the pages yeah that it made to make someone like you yeah so when you look at this point in your life did you expect this did you know it what's coming because you are your fit 50/50 if yes I turned 50 last year last year yeah 50 in this industry would be so good no I you know I spent the majority of my life in the masculinity race what does that mean trying to be masculine enough to get a gig it's all about masculinity and especially for a black man if you're not masculine enough you're dismissed you can't work you don't get jobs you don't get work it's it's it was a real thing for me at the beginning what for my whole life it wasn't just the business did you feel that you had to fake it until you make well I was just trying to be masculine enough you know to get the gig and then when I was about 40 I said I'm gonna take myself out of that race I'm gonna take myself out of that because clearly I'm not masculine enough by society standards to do anything so were you not getting worked I mean I may not work well you had kinky boots yeah though I'm talking freaky freaky kinky boots ah Kim pre-kick but you really weren't getting gigs I you know I was getting jobs but I was getting the kinds of jobs that were what I call you know the magical really the magical Negro that sprinkles fairy dust all over everybody and it's not a real person it's not a human being you know it's an archetype it's a clown and it's what everybody on the outside feels comfortable with but the moment that it's about a real human being and it's about me telling my story it's ghosts it's um go somewhere I said which is why pose was so incredible yeah because it was no longer this stereotype we ran into each other we were flying to Boston yes we were like on a like I'm a sky and you should they say you shook me because you told me this story about Ryan Murphy you got the call from him about unpacking some of the pain from the childhood you know the rejection in the early part of your career yeah to get where you are and what did Ryan tell you well you know we had been working for for the first season pretty much and he called me to lunch and um he essentially called me out because he said okay look I want you to lean into the joy and I took it you know I took a breath and he's like I know what it's been I know how hard you've worked I know it's hard to trust where you are now but I need you to know that you're here I got your back you don't ever have to worry about anything again and you know for a person who spent 13 years not working bankruptcy you know all of the common things that everybody talks about I went through them all you know and it just took my breath away you know you really do just need one person in a position of power you know to open the door I wasn't asking anybody to give me anything for free I came with all of the tools all of the talent the entire skill set and now the world gets to see that part you're not let in the room yeah and you know for you in the cast of pose you've done something so incredible because I'm sure many people thought there's no way you know middle America will watch that show and III don't like that term middle America I'm like there's no middle know if you show people something of quality if you don't make people into caricatures suddenly we're all watching something different human human human stories were all human beings and now you are this powerful force for the LGBTQI community and I woke up to this you know little nas I'm obsessed with a little nothing there was this rapper pastor Troy's his name he's an atlanta-based rapper and he went on social media he attacked little nozzles for this outfit basically saying if I have to wear this to get a Grammy then I count me out and then he went on to accuse Hollywood or music industry pushing this out on our kids to his credit little nods X tweeted back that looked good in this picture on god I'd look good and he didn't fall for the bait ya know you're one of the leading voices that helps pave the way for this kid to be able to clap back and not feel afraid yes yeah I you know I've never had an exemplar you know I never had an example of who I was in the mainstream reflected back at me ever and it's been intentional for me you know the moment that I decided to love myself enough you know you have to love yourself enough Maya Angelou says we teach people how to treat us so I had to teach the world how to treat me yeah but I needed to treat myself right first all right you know I needed to figure out how to love myself right first in the face of abject rejection for some simply being who I when you see little Nozick's have this voice that you helped pave how do you feel when you see them it's I feel it's overwhelming you know it's a different conversation now you know I've been saying for years this conversation is not about acceptance and it's not about tolerance because those two things require something on the outside to give me validation have you ever been worried that you were too vocal I mean you you take strong stances and you say what you mean and you mean what you say have you worried that in this part of your career being so vocal would hurt where you are no m'as a result of my truth is where I'm supposed to be so you know I started telling the truth yeah and Here I am so you started telling the truth and Here I am when I wasn't telling the truth I was bankrupt Wow let's be real I spent a lot of years not telling the truth and I was bankrupt and unemployed and now here you are and now here I am you know it shocks me just as much as it sucks to everybody else because I never never ever ever once in a million years thought that it would be my authenticity that thrusted me to the fourth-most speaking of your authenticity you don't ever fake it on the red carpet we're gonna talk with Billy about being this fashion and culture icon I'm gonna dissect some of his looks [Laughter] battery [Applause] [Music] [Applause] let me hear it let me hear it it's too hot the motorized half yeah I'm the Grammys yes how did that come to be batteries episode so so I was at the AMAs and Billy Eilish was on the red carpet before me and she was wearing some Gucci thing on her face and I was like oh that's cute but I've spent way too much time in my life being in the back I need to show my face but I wouldn't have my face covered like that and then my stylist was like well we could have we could cover your face and then have it open and you said this is forever Monday mood because it's Monday right you have such an infectious smile how did you keep the straight face I would have just bust out laughing I have always loved fashion I have always loved you know like I came up in the in the in the first supermodel yeah you know phase when they first exploded I'm coming on our show next week yes so you know I've always played with the leg the dropped face we have a five-year-old picture of Billy do we have that they do have the drop face of in these clothes around you all the clothes laid out I just made know who I was they knew who you were if they knew they'd say no look at that little boy [Applause] so I can't cry you're gonna be sent in the new Cinderella yes mmm as the fairy that's called the fab Jean and I keep going around saying I'm playing the Whitney Houston part that's a dream come true when you got the call that you were going to be playing you know once again it's like it's beyond anything that I could have ever imagined yeah and my dreams have always been big but they've always been predicated on things that I've seen springboarded off the things that I've seen before yeah you know this moment in my life has taught me to dream the impossible and there are no limits on any other yeah and that is such a gift in such a blessing and it's empowering so if you've got so I'm looking at the things you are you gonna start a fashion line up yeah you almost heard an e got that's when you get the emmy the Tony the Grammy could you just need the Oscar I just need the Oscar to complete that will be manifest into reality and the next season of pose starts taping in March March and I'm directing an episode in February for this political season so look out for that and um you know I'm starting a production company it's time for me to be the one in charge the one in charge [Applause] what's what's relaxation like trying to figure that out you know I'm not good at it I'm not good at that I just started my husband it started has been helping me figure that out we went to UM the almost spa in Sedona a couple weeks ago I've never in my life it's fingers to anything I was like oh you know I mean like pamper pamper like you get there you put on the robe and you don't take it off for three days and you just a lot of massages and facials and the past life regressions and the rubs and the you know and the wraps and the scrubs I was like you have not learned to unwind and all of them there was no time you know for so you know I grew up in the ghettos of Pittsburgh it's like you go to work and you go to work and you go to work and you go to work period that's just what we do you know there were no finances there were no my sister knew that there were no extra you know there was no extra money to do anything right you know now it's like oh wait like I actually I'm retraining myself have you splurged on it I have I splurged on that trip you know you get that bill from vacation you're like one of the biggest and most influential houses coming on to perform after this break yes they are a part of the culture that inspired pose to see them also get the love what does that mean for you that you were inspired by your journey and now it's impacted these young kids well I just feel like you know none of us are free till we're all free right and so the space that we're in where it's seemingly we're seemingly so divided yeah it's actually historically the moment when the people come together more than ever because we have to because we're required to otherwise the whole thing will implode and so creatively we have always been at the forefront as creatives of Architects of change you know and so this is an example of that we get to be architects of change we get to put that kind of energy out in the world and change it change the molecular structure of what's in somebody's heart yeah you know and that is what creates the change for good because that's what we need you change that stage you have been a change agent you are everything thank you so much and I can't wait [Applause] you

Channel: Tamron Hall Show

Views: 157,716

Rating: 4.8075895 out of 5

Keywords: billy porter, pose, fx, Tamron hall, tamron hall show, daytime television, television, interviews, celebrity, celeb, celebrity interviews, tv, abc, Disney

Id: hr1RMHBcFAM

Length: 15min 31sec (931 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 30 2020