Porter revealed that he's been forced to sell his house due to the ongoing strike and shared strong words for some studio execs.
Billy Porter is fired up and feeling the rage, anger and hurt so many Hollywood creatives are experiencing amid the ongoing SAG-AFTRA/WGA strikes.
The Pose alum recently sat down for an interview with the Evening Standard -- as he is currently in London for work -- and he revealed that the strike has taken a toll on him personally, and he's been forced to sell his home here in Los Angeles.
"I have to sell my house," Porter shared. "Because we’re on strike. And I don’t know when we’re gonna go back [to work]."
"The life of an artist, until you make f**k-you money -- which I haven't made yet -- is still check-to-check," Porter shared. "I was supposed to be in a new movie, and on a new television show starting in September. None of that is happening."
"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 added, referring to controversial comments recently made by an unnamed studio exec that went viral and caused a great deal of backlash.
He also called out Disney CEO Bob Iger specifically, expressing anger and frustration with comments he's made about the strikes.
"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, except: 'f**k you.'" Porter said. "[But] that’s not useful, so I’ve kept my mouth shut. I haven’t engaged because I’m so enraged."
Reflecting on the strike, and the causes of the ongoing showbusiness turmoil, Porter shared, "In the late '50s, early '60s, when they structured a way for artists to be compensated properly through residual [payments], it allowed for the 2 percent of working actors -- and there are 150,000 people in our union, who work consistently -- [to get compensation."
"Then streaming came in," Porter said. "There’s no contract for it… And they don't have to be transparent with the numbers -- it's not Nielsen ratings anymore... the streaming companies are notoriously opaque with their viewership figures."
"The business has evolved. So the contract has to evolve," added Porter, who said that he will be on the picket lines and actively protesting when he comes back to the US.
For more on the ongoing strikes, check out the video below.
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