Billy Porter says he has to sell his house because of strikes: ‘You’ve already starved me out’
Billy Porter says he’s seeing the financial effects of the dual writers’ and actors’ strikes.
The “Pose” actor recently revealed that he’s feeling pressure to sell his house due to monetary strain.
Four actors on why they’re striking and the struggle to maintain a middle-class living in today’s Hollywood.
“I have to sell my house,” Porter told the Evening Standard. “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 check-to-check. I was supposed to be in a new movie, and on a new television show starting in September. None of that is happening.”
Actors have been on strike since July 14. Their union, SAG-AFTRA, and studios represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers have yet to make an agreement on a new film and TV contract and remain far apart on issues such as residuals from streaming platforms and regulations surrounding artificial intelligence.
With writers and actors on strike, the studios have a full-blown labor revolt on their hands — and they have no one but themselves to blame.
The Emmy winner also addressed the incendiary remarks made by Disney chief executive Bob Iger about the viability of negotiations between actors, writers and the studios. In mid-July, Iger called the two guilds’ demands “just not realistic” and added that their job actions were “adding to a set of challenges that this business is already facing that is quite frankly very disruptive and dangerous.”
“To hear Bob Iger say that our demands for a living wage are unrealistic? While he makes $78,000 a day?” Porter said. “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. ... But when I go back [to the U.S.] I will join the picket lines.”
A day after extending his contract as Walt Disney Co.’s CEO, Iger said he is open to spinning off ABC Television and taking on a partner for ESPN.
The Broadway star also addressed the reported quotes from an anonymous Hollywood executive who called for extreme measures to bring an end to the strikes. “The endgame is to allow things to drag on until union members start losing their apartments and losing their houses,” one executive told Deadline.
“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 said.
The biggest entertainment stories
Get our big stories about Hollywood, film, television, music, arts, culture and more right in your inbox as soon as they publish.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
