Billy Porter is having an amazing, trailblazing year and is showing love to Dwyane Wade’s son after Internet trolls questioned his right to be himself.
Porter, 50, who became the first openly gay Black man to win an Emmy in the “Best Lead Actor in a Drama” category this year for his role in Pose, told Extra’s Billy Bush that he liked Zion Wade’s crop top and fake nails look on Thanksgiving – even if those Internet bullies didn’t.
READ MORE: Billy Dee Williams breaking gender binary walls down in Hollywood
“Work it!” Porter said to Bush about the Wade family Thanksgiving picture, before adding: “Why do you read those (comments), why does anybody read those (comments).” Ok, Porter himself admits that he read the comments, too, but “I read it for information, but I don’t read it for validation.”
Tell ‘em, Billy!
Porter also showed love to Billy Dee Williams, 82, who recently acknowledged that he is gender fluid. Porter told Bush: “Work it out… When somebody like Billy Dee Williams comes out as that, it cracks open a whole different conversation.”
Williams played Lando Calrissian in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.
Billy has a lot to celebrate this year. Although the singer and actor had previously won a Tony and a Grammy for his work on Broadway’s Kinky Boots, this year the star made history when he took home an Emmy in September.
He told Bush, “I mean… as an artist, it’s about the work… I’m not doing this for awards… It is fun to win them, and as a Black little sissy boy, it gives me a little bit of power and people want to listen. When you put your awards on the table, then you get a little cachet. Some doors start to open that were closed and locked before.”
Doors also open when a person manifests greatness, Porter said. And he’s living proof.
READ MORE: Billy Porter makes Emmy history with Best Actor win for his role in ‘POSE’
“I started actually… saying out loud to anybody who would listen, ‘I want Ryan Murphy to see me…’ And the day came. I got that telephone call to audition for ‘Pose’… It was the wrong part — they auditioned me to be the dance teacher…And I said, ‘I think y’all might want me for another part,’ and I explained myself to the casting director… and they created the role of Pray Tell for me,” Porter told Extra.
Yessss! We’re here for it.
The post Billy Porter has a few words for Dwyane Wade’s son, Zion: “Work It!” appeared first on theGrio.
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