American actor and singer Billy Porter who made headlines for pulling off the most dramatic red carpet look ever at the 2019 Met Gala, made some harsh revelations about the Hollywood industry and his role in the FX drama series 'Pose'.
"It's a double layer. The layer of being a person of colour in this industry, and the other layer of being a queen. No one can see you as anything else," Porter said during The Hollywood Reporter's Drama Actor Roundtable.
Speaking about his character in the FX drama series 'Pose, Porter added, "If 'Flamboyantly...' wasn't in the description of the character, no one would see me ever, for anything, which wouldn't be so enraging if it went the other direction, but it doesn't."
Porter, a homosexual, spoke about the misery that even gay men don't pay the role of a gay but a straight man playing the role is rewarded for it.
"Straight men, playing gay, everyone wants to give them an award. Thank you for gracing us with your straight presence. That gets tiresome."
He added, 'I can't get the gay part, I can't get the straight part. I can't get anything.'
Sharing about the time when he broke down on call to his sister after facing a bad rejection, he said, "I can't keep putting myself into this position where I am always begging."
However, Porter was called in to audition for 'Pose', the next day.
"I got a call ring: 'Ryan [Murphy] thinks you're right. If you can come in and do an impersonation of the MC from Paris Is Burning, he will develop something for you.' I thought: 'If?'"
Porter was nominated for his role as Pray Tell in the series 'Pose' for the best actor for a Golden Globe.
Co-created by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Steven Canals, 'Pose' made history for featuring primetime's largest cast of transgender actors and the largest cast of recurring LGBTQ character for a scripted series.
Other actors also present at the roundtable were Hugh Grant, Richard Madden, Sam Rockwell, Stephen James and Diego Luna.
( With inputs from ANI )