Source: Matt Winkelmeyer / Getty
Billy Porter is one of the many stars personally affected by the professional toll of the ongoing writers’ and actors’ strikes in Hollywood.
The Broadway star and former Pose actor revealed that the SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) and WGA (Writers Guild of America) strikes have already impacted his finances and living situation. In his recent interview with the Evening Standard, Porter explained that he’s closer to a struggling artist than the entertainment executives who deny workers fairer contracts.
“I have to sell my house — because we’re on strike. And I don’t know when we’re gonna go back [to work],” Porter said. “The life of an artist — until you make ‘fuck-you money,’ which I haven’t made yet — is still check-to-check.”
He added, “I was supposed to be in a new movie and on a new television show starting in September. None of that is happening.”
The multitalented performer explained that the streaming boom had created discrepancies and exploitation regarding actors’ payments from residuals. Porter demanded that the streamers change and become more transparent moving forward.
The actor had harsh words for Disney’s CEO Bob Iger and an unnamed Hollywood executive who expressed apathy in a July Deadline interview toward writers affected by the WGA strike.
“So to the person who said, ‘We’re going to starve them out until they have to sell their apartments’ — you’ve already starved me out,” Porter quipped.
“To hear Bob Iger say that our demands for a living wage are unrealistic? While he makes $78,000 a day? I don’t have any words for it, but ‘Fuck you,'” Porter directed at the CEO, whose net worth was an estimated $690 million in 2019. “That’s not useful, so I’ve kept my mouth shut. I haven’t engaged because I’m so enraged… When I go back [to the U.S. from London], I will join the picket lines.”
The WGA’s strike started May 2, and SAG-AFTRA’s began July 14.
The strikes have paused Porter’s involvement in a forthcoming James Baldwin biopic for which he is the lead, a co-writer and co-producer. Separate from his acting and screenwriting gigs; the performer has an upcoming album on the way called The Black Mona Lisa.
Porter and his husband, Adam Smith, announced the end of their six-year marriage in late July. Read more on that below.
RELATED CONTENT: “Billy Porter And Husband Adam Smith End Marriage After 6 Years”
