Billy Porter talks to GLAAD about making Emmys history, POSE, Taylor Swift and much more.

ok everyone I have a treat for you it is not every day that I get to be in the presence of an icon a history-making icon Billy Porter from pose he has made history as the first openly gay black man to be nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor I mean that sounds amazing already what I mean Grammy winner Tony winner Emmy I mean you're one step closer we when we heard the nomination which we all knew you deserved but when to actually see the nomination happen it was glad was so so excited well I mean I can only imagine what that would be like for you tell me a little bit about it cuz I haven't seen you since well you know I've been in the business for 30 years Awards are amazing yeah Awards are great it's a fun sort of part of the job you know like sometimes when we get success in this business as actors and performers and stuff the byproduct sometimes is a certain kind of celebrity the byproduct sometimes is the award infrastructure it's fun yeah I like the old glamour of Hollywood I like to play like that I like that part of it so I'm just having a blast and when I truly say that it's an honor to be nominated it is the truth you know because on paper I'm not supposed to be here on paper I'm not supposed to be in this category I'm not supposed to be in this conversation so the fact that I've lived long enough to see this day and to see this kind of change is very humbling and empowering and inspiring I want to talk about that because I think you know for us in the community pose has been such a inspiration and something that we've wanted it's something that we've needed I want to know for you with the roles you know relating to your career what what does it mean to be a part of that for you right now in your career well it's everything I've ever wanted it's everything I've ever dreamed of it's everything I've ever asked the universe for you know I I've always wanted to be an artist that made work that activates change I know my life was changed my life was saved by the arts and so I've truly been dedicated to sort of trying to find material for myself that speaks to that desire you know early in my career there really wasn't material that aligned with that very often and so I went in search of it and the journey was a lot longer than I thought it would be but and I got to the other side of it I'm still in the middle of my journey but like I said to see the world sort of crack open and receive a truth and an authenticity that had previously been rejected across the board is is an amazing thing I think I read that you had said that the biz the industry you know masquerades itself as being inclusive but it really isn't tell me a little bit more why you think that because I well I've just lived it yeah it's like you know there's a lot of talk about it it's politically correct to say that you're inclusive but my grandmama says actions speak louder than words so we're right for a very very long time where Ryan Murphy is obviously the true thing he is making queer people bankable many stars so well you know because my um yeah I'm gonna stop you a bankable ya think it's all about the money it's all about the money yeah it's all about the dollars hey you got my no where's your bankable yes it doesn't matter who you sleep with right when your bankable it doesn't matter what color you are right it doesn't matter it doesn't matter because you're bankable that's what an award means for me as a black queer person yeah like is it is it the end-all be-all no but for me as a black queer man yeah the awards make me bankable yes so they matter for me differently than they do for a white cisgendered straight man or woman or whatever you know so yeah it's it's um it's a major day major time for the for for the queer community and and specifically queer people of color and Ryan is doing you know such a good job with that you're in this whole world American Horror Story you're in the Ryan Murphy universe which I love because that means you could pop up at any of his shows exactly I spoke that right out there I knew he would be the one now Emmys are coming up next month let's talk about that because I mean it's so funny I was looking at your Wikipedia page and it's like it's divided right now into its like early life career and fashion I mean it's like fashion is already like surely part of the legacy which I love and you and your stylist Samra tell ya he you guys have done looks with the blondes and done looks with Christian Siriano I know I'm not gonna get the dirt on what you're gonna wear to the actual show but I would love to just talk about that because it's really been you have been a part of this charge of changing this conversation because like we've seen menswear on women fine forever but you know if a guy dresses in something that is traditionally more feminine it's disgusting right and causes a lates like pandaboy exactly yes like I was accused of you know being the being the cause for the emasculate of the blood it's like I just wore a dress y'all it ain't that deep like for real it's really not that deep it's like I just like fashion absolutely and sometimes fashion crosses beyond gender boundaries for me for me absolutely it's me it's and I get to make the choices of what I wear and what I do right and we're here to watch all of it I love it give me one word of maybe a word that might describe the the vibe you're going for for the Emmys throwback disco studio 50 ohm I got yes please I'm hearing Michael Kors couture I love that Michaels amazing no no I want to be surprised and the crazy thing is September 22nd Emmys yeah September 21st birdboy it's a big one and it's a big one house I mean that is like I mean that's a double whammy but for you I love you know I was talking to some people and I love it when there are rises in someone's career and that you know it's because I think some people think oh I just like arrived to Hollywood and everything was amazing and I just got my fruit but you really have worked out it so hard and how does it feel to kind of be you know turning 50 and then really like I mean it's your world right now and we're just living in it like yeah it's I think for anybody out there who has a dream yes right a dream that was planted really early early in their lives and you know you get to this place especially on our world and on our culture that's so ageist yeah and you get into this this sort of space where you think oh I'm too old or oh I'm too dis or own to like it's like just keep going just put your feet on the ground put one foot in front of the other and go for it the worst that can happen is that you know you don't get it but like sometimes you do and I don't know I'm just so humbled and surprised like it just takes my breath away right you know and not that I you know I've always dreamed big I've always had huge dreams for myself but I've talked about this a lot too it's like meeting Ryan Murphy and being a part of this you know and Steven canals with posing and this whole thing sort of coming together it's really taught me to dream the impossible you know because my dreams were always based on something in springboarded office of things that I had already seen I wasn't dreaming what I couldn't see right that is what's been really astonishing about this time I was I remember I talking to Lena wave name-drop and I remember she had said that when she saw Halle Berry win the Oscar and I think 2001 that she for her that was a moment when she realized as a black woman trying to break into the business she could achieve something that she wanted to yeah was there something that you wash or something you that happened early on that you that made you say like I am gonna go into this business I'm gonna take it on I'm gonna win awards I'm gonna do it all uh I would have to say the the moment was early yeah watching Jennifer Holliday on the Tony Awards you know and this was before YouTube and this was before you know anything yeah like I saw it and I lived on that for like 11 years ran 15 years until somebody could show me the video of it again like until I could find the video of it somewhere again right I've seen it a million times but you know that fueled me for more than a decade that's it Jennifer you hear that I mean amazing she knows you told her um I want to talk about you know we just wrapped up season 2 you have posed and thing with your character you know we don't see gay black men lovin each other I was to say in a sex scene but loving each other it was so beautiful and I think you know I think I read that you had said that you you do have a nudity clause yeah you never thought I would get casted as a character actor I've been a character actor until last year but I do think that you know the feedback from from the community seeing that was so impactful yeah and well because because the stories about black men killing each other get greenlit every day right multiple times a day you know but when it's time for us to try to figure out how to love each other on any level yeah you know not even the queer part but I'm just I'm talking about like you know even cisgender straight stories about black men trying to love each other is a it's very rare you know so to see this and you know I have to say just so we're clear we're not the first I know everybody likes to tell the first the first the first right right we love those style of see yes the black on black male loveseat yeah they're not the first it was Noah's Ark yes that's right it was the do chronicles 15 years ago those guys are my friends who created those shows and they were the first people to get them to the air now pose has a wider platform right 15 years later the world has changed even more so the material gets to be pushed out into the world in a different way right and more people have seen this and I know I still haven't processed that part of it I have you watched it back watched it once what was that like for you it's just odd I've a yeah very you know when you're not a leading man that's not something that you think about and then all of a sudden it's like it's one of the most intimate private things that you can share with somebody right you know and so to see myself on the screen like sharing looking good sharing that private yeah of course of myself with the world it was like all right well I guess we're in it I guess we're so you would want more loving scenes for your character in season 3 yeah shine you about all the love scenes we want that ship we want to show you know that's what I love about television - yeah is that if you get on a show that actually manages to have a few seasons you get to experience characters and see these characters that you love grow yeah I change hopefully change yeah better or whatever and I just love that we get to see these people who we've not seen before you know pray tell is me yes I've never seen anything like pray tell on screen nope and other than believes in angels in America you know I've never seen anybody any any character that's been able to express themselves who's had the life that pray tell has who is the person that he is it's really cool it really is cool you know and it's really cracked to be open in a different way to dream like I said to dream the impossible I got plans what I was gonna ask I got plan is for the next dream yeah you know what's the next on the concrete let it create stuff yeah you know it's like be the change that you want to see so create the content you know I started a while ago I was like oh well this is absent I am the archetype that's absent so I'm gonna participate in putting energy out into the world that creates that architect right you know whether it's being generated from me as a writer or as a director which I you know which I've been doing or believes and in angels in the revival that I did off-broadway or kinky boots or you know and and and and pray tell like it's like oh it's actually everything is in divine order you know people speak of pigeonholes very often in this business oh you don't want to get pigeonholed a thing well actually I do yeah exactly I do I don't bring the pigeonhole on because the pigeonhole is the pigeonhole of being the queer poster child is wide open take it yeah yeah there's only a few of us trying to do it right and we all know each other and we're friends that's great I love it um speaking of all of you of what you got going on you are also now a music video star I mean Taylor Swift just won the VMA for a year I mean you know that it's so fun in the video is so amazing so many queer people in it but I think the the best part of that whole experience is is that you know she's arguably one of the biggest stars in the world and for her to take an opportunity like that to talk about the Equality Act yeah and to use her voice yeah and get political and say you got to do this I mean I would how important is that for you I mean to see someone like Taylor Swift really just step up and be like I've got a support the queer community well I think it's I I just feel like and this is me I'm not speaking for write anybody else but when you've been blessed with a platform through whatever it is that you do I feel like it's a responsibility to use that platform and use your powers for good I call it using your powers for good and so it's so beautiful to see her stepping up in this way and you know one of the things she said to me when she called me to ask me to be in it was that she was looking to surround herself with the right people hey that's and that really touched my heart you know that she thought I was that she you know that she thinks I'm one of the people who represents what she's trying to do in a way where she wants to embrace that I said thank you for coming and getting grandpa oh thanks for coming to Grandpa for the rest of us out there what does that like we're Taylor Swift gives you a phone call hey girl yeah it was really truly like a hey girl yeah yeah it really was she's the kindest she's the kindest right Mormon she's a really beautiful spirit and the kindest woman I still have not better in person that's right that was movie mad arts music video magic is you had to be in New York Hey and so we've only spoken in text and texted but I'm speaking a texting to Taylor Swift yeah that's pretty good I feel like there's gonna be a more collaborations in the future I'm looking forward to you know my music is is my music career is I'm trying to reignite it yes yeah I mean I have been stopped but I'm I'm looking to sort of with this new platform but I have to kind of like bring the power that I have from that into like trying to make some we are here for we're paying attention see and I love I mean right now we're in Boston thank you for inviting us yeah so you are directing also as a acting all of that wasn't enough you're directing its play I knew it's called the purest appear I know it's about kind of a connection with some unlikely people tell me a little bit about why it was the story that you wanted to direct and would replay by Dan McKay because he's a he's a wonderful new playwright just out of Juilliard and you know he wrote this play about people from opposite ends of the spectrum culture wise we see them make the decision in the choice to understand each other no more of that era by love each other through their differences and I think it's a I think it's so apropos yeah for today because we need to what that looks like because we are being inundated with images of hate and violence and bigotry and I don't want to put that energy out into the world now and so this was something that made me feel like I was putting something positive out into the world you know it's really beautiful play what's the director role like for you I mean it's power yes power man in charge not already it's about power it's about power you want to be in charge you want to be a charge that's why you like directing no but for real yeah you know to be to be honest it's um creatively as I get older my brain just I get bored real easy my brain just keeps going to keeps going and this is one of the one of the places where like all of the cylinders are firing simultaneously and it's just euphoric to me what about directing episode of season three of pose yes awesome that's on the docket all right see that's what that's one of the things that you're conquering next I love that well Billy it has been such a pleasure we will be rooting for you September 22nd in your Michael Kors disco studio 54 fabulous inspired yes it's fine it's over peace no but we're definitely rooting for you so be sure and check out the Emmys September 22nd thanks so much thank you bye everyone

Channel: GLAAD

Views: 9,871

Rating: 4.8992805 out of 5

Keywords: GLAAD, media, LGBT, GLBT, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, equality, award

Id: 3dBEcqlF8Hk

Length: 21min 38sec (1298 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 28 2019