Ten days out from the Golden Globe Awards ceremony, where Billy Porter is nominated as best actor in a TV drama, the “Pose” star is sitting in a Downtown Crazy Mocha, rocking a red velvet suit.
He is back in his hometown because, in a year filled with personal triumphs, he felt the tug of a community in need after the Tree of Life hate crime that left 11 dead and six injured. The Tony- and Grammy-winning star of Broadway’s “Kinky Boots” will stand with other local artists to headline the Roots of Steel benefit concert Thursday night at the Carnegie Music Hall in Oakland.
“It’s my responsibility to come back and stand arm and arm with these people and say this kind of hate is not acceptable,” said Mr. Porter, whose route to fame wound through Pittsburgh Allderdice High School, CAPA and Carnegie Mellon University.
“I took a wonderful Jewish girl to the prom, whose family I am still close with,” he said of Alexandra Berger and her parents, Chris and Judy. He also sang at bar mitzvahs at Tree of Life and other synagogues, and it was “in particular the Jewish community that embraced me in my youth in such a way that I would not be standing if it wasn’t for this community.”
When his mother, Cloerinda Ford, needed access to a pool for continuous physical therapy, the Jewish Community Center “opened its doors for free, for years,” Mr. Porter said.
Reaching out to help in “the only way I can, as an artist,” he found the planners of the Roots of Steel concert, and that has brought him home during this most busy time in his career.
Mr. Porter heard about his Golden Globe nomination on Dec. 6 while in Atlanta filming the 2019 movie “Limited Partners” with — “I’m going to have to pick up these names off the ground,” — Tiffany Haddish, Rose Byrne and Salma Hayek. He had his phone on vibrate in his back pocket, knowing the nominations were to be announced at 8:05 a.m.
He felt the phone start to buzz in the middle of a scene and at first he was thrilled, assuming it was good news, but then he thought, perhaps it was condolences ... Then he heard someone yell, “Cut,” and a producer told the cast and crew, “I just have to say, we have a Golden Globe nominee in our midst.”
“And everybody applauded, and it was fabulous,” Mr. Porter said.
He had been surprised when "Pose" show-runner and creator Ryan Murphy told him he was submitted for nomination in the lead acting category. His character, Pray Tell, is a drag ball emcee who counsels and takes care of others, then discovers he himself is HIV positive.
Over lunch with “the boss man,” Mr. Murphy told him, “Billy Porter, you are the lead male actor of our show. You are a black, gay, out leading man, and the world needs to see what that looks like.”
And now they will. His main competition might be from Matthew Rhys, star of another FX series, “The Americans,” and costar with Tom Hanks in the Mister Rogers movie that filmed in Pittsburgh this year.
Mr. Porter’s first thought when he allowed the nomination to sink in was, “Thank you, Jesus, in that, for a person like me, the recognition that comes from this kind of spotlight creates a space where my platform enlarges, and that’s what’s most important in my life — my art has always been about activism,” he said.
As his profile has grown — from “Kinky Boots” to FX shows “Pose” and “American Horror Story” — so has his outspoken support of the LGBTQ+ community, which has brought him honors from GLAAD and the Human Rights Campaign.
He recently called out Kevin Hart, who was dropped as Oscars host for homophobic remarks. Words matter, Mr. Porter said, and silence is not an option. He was quoted in several news outlets, chastising the comedian and saying, “You turn around and oppress other people the same way you’re being oppressed.”
“When you attack me and you attack my community, you’re going to have to face a response to that,” said the 49-year-old East End native, whose success has been a long time in the making.
Broadway called by way of Teen Idol in “Grease” and other early roles, but there was a long lull before “Kinky Boots” and the role of Lola came along in 2013, putting him on the path to “Pose.” He makes his home in Harlem, with his husband Adam Smith. His sister and mother are in New York as well, but he has two aunts, cousins and many friends here in Pittsburgh.
He returns not only to help today, but he also plans to be back in a year and produce “a big concert” that spreads the word of hope and healing.
“He had always dreamed ‘huge,’ ” he said, and his experience with “Pose” has taught him something more — “to dream the impossible.”
“I was always trying to be the first black this, or the first so and so, not The First. Period,” Mr. Porter said before rushing to rehearsal on Thursday. “That concept transcends your mind until you experience it. Ryan Murphy and this situation [with ‘Pose’] has taught me I can dream about something I never even imagined. To dream the impossible dream. I understand what that means now.”
Sharon Eberson: seberson@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1960. Twitter: @SEberson_pg. Sign up for the PG performing arts newsletter Behind the Curtain at Newsletter
First Published: December 27, 2018, 5:57 p.m.
