Billy Porter held nothing back when recently discussing Harry Styles becoming the first man to grace the cover of Vogue in 2020. The esteemed Hollywood actor opened up to The Telegraph about Styles’ privilege of being a white and straight male in the entertainment industry—and how Vogue had no problem cashing in on it.
“It doesn’t feel good to me. You’re using my community — or your people are using my community — to elevate you. You haven’t had to sacrifice anything,” he said. To give even more background Porter’s claims (which are rooted in truth and are clear as day), he shared an interesting tidbit about a talk he had with Vogue editor-in chief Anna Wintour.
Ahead of the cover’s release, Wintour asked Porter his opinion on how to lead the magazine. “That bitch said to me at the end, ‘How can we do better?’ And I was so taken off guard that I didn’t say what I should have said,” Porter explained. However, he stated that he did tell Wintour to “use your power as Vogue to uplift the voices of the leaders of this de-gendering of fashion movement … Six months later, Harry Styles is the first man on the cover.”
Though Porter said he doesn’t necessarily have anything against Styles, the singer isn’t the right choice to represent the complexity of gender and how it pertains to the LGBTQ+ community. “I’m not dragging Harry Styles, but he is the one you’re going to try and use to represent this new conversation? He doesn’t care, he’s just doing it because it’s the thing to do.”
Porter continued: “This is politics for me. This is my life. I had to fight my entire life to get to the place where I could wear a dress to the Oscars and not be gunned down. All he has to do is be white and straight.” Porter is speaking for a lot of Black people who have also had similar feelings and experiences. Hopefully, Hollywood takes notice.