Billy Porter is finally getting a Hollywood Walk of Fame star – on World AIDS Day
Billy Porter is all set to add a Hollywood Walk of Fame star to his list of awards. (Getty/Paras Griffin)
Queer culture icon Billy Porter is soon to add a Hollywood Walk of Fame star to his array of awards.
On Thursday, 1 December, the actor, singer, director, composer and playwright will be awarded his star in the Live Performance and Live Theatre category.
Porter will be honored on World AIDS Day. Last year, he shared publicly that he was HIV-positive 14 years after he was first diagnosed.
“The truth is the healing. And I hope this frees me,” Porter told The Hollywood Reporter at the time.
“I hope this frees me so that I can experience real, unadulterated joy, so that I can experience peace, so that I can experience intimacy, so that I can have sex without shame.”
Porter shared the Walk of Fame announcement via Instagram on Tuesday (22 November).
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Porter is best known for his role as Pray Tell in the FX show Pose, the success of which brought New York ball culture to homes across the world. The role earned him an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series.
Earlier this year, Porter made his directorial debut in film with the teen romantic comedy Anything’s Possible.
Speaking with PinkNews, Porter said he aimed to normalise trans identities with the film’s heartfelt portrayal of a Black trans teenager.
“The story is about the normalisation of the other,” Porter said. “What happens in our culture is, when we don’t understand something, very often we fear it, and then fear turns into hate and then hate turns into policy.
“And so, as artists, we have the power to change that narrative, and it’s through pieces like this where we get to show the world what it is to be human. We’re all human beings, and that’s what is the most important.”
Porter’s career has already brought him excruciatingly close to winning a full set of awards. His Emmy for Pose complements his Tony and Grammy for Kinky Boots. He is only missing an Oscar to claim that iconic EGOT status.
But what he lacks in an Oscar, he makes up for in stunning red-carpet looks. His 2019 Oscars look, a Christian Siriano tuxedo gown, became a “groundbreaking” fashion moment in awards history.
Walk of Fame Producer Ana Martinez said in a press release that she cannot wait to see what Porter will wear on the day he is honoured. Some fans are hoping he will wear red to the ceremony to commemorate World AIDS Day.
The ceremony is sure to make for photos worthy of fashion’s most prestigious archives. It will be live-streamed from California’s Hollywood Walk of Fame on 1 December at 11:30am PT, 7:30pm GMT.
