Billy Porter and his wide brim have had enough
Billy Porter participated in the Hollywood Reporter Drama Actor Roundtable, and during the talk, he went off about the indignities gay actors must face in order to get roles.
The discussion involved Stephan James, Diego Luna, Sam Rockwell, Hugh Grant and Richard Madden (who recently played a gay role in the Elton John biopic Rocketman). It covered a wealth of topics.
When the moderator asked Porter what made him continue going for on-screen roles after being passed up for numerous roles despite his illustrious theatre career, Porter responded:
Here’s a video of Porter speaking his mind at the roundtable:
He’s not wrong about the award thing. In 2019, alone Olivia Coleman won an Oscar for playing a bisexual monarch in The Favourite, Mahershala Ali won his second Best Supporting Actor Oscar for playing gay pianist Dr. Don Shirley in Green Book and Rami Malek won Best Actor in for playing bisexual rock icon and Queen frontman Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody. Each of the actors is straight.
Marlon Brando, Kevin Spacey, Jodie Foster, Joel Grey, Anna Paquin, Angelina Jolie and Linda Hunt are the only out LGBTQ actors ever to have won Oscars for acting.
