Pose's Billy Porter Says He Needs to Sell His House Amid Strikes

Billy Porter has revealed the tough reality of being an actor amid the SAG-AFTRA strike.

The 53-year-old actor, best known for his Emmy-winning role in Pose, says he has to sell his house due to the strikes happening in Hollywood.

Billy, who is also going through a divorce right now, chatted with the Evening Standard to promote his work producing the musical A Strange Loop, which is now playing on London’s West End.

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“In the late Fifties, early Sixties, when they structured a way for artists to be compensated properly through residual [payments], it allowed for the two percent of working actors — and there are 150,000 people in our union — who work consistently…” Billy said of the changing business model. “Then streaming came in. 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.”

Billy continued, “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, but: f*** you. That’s not useful, so I’ve kept my mouth shut. I haven’t engaged because I’m so enraged. I’m glad I’ve been over here. But when I go back I will join the picket lines,” Billy said.

Billy revealed he’s not just a millionaire trying to get more millions. He revealed, “I have to sell my house… 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***-you money — which I haven’t made yet — is still cheque-to-cheque. 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.”

Learn about one of the projects that Billy was set to star in.