Billy Porter delighted TV critics from afar on Tuesday, though the “Pose” star also had a pretty profound message for us mixed in with lots of laughs.
Asked about his upcoming nude scene on the FX series, an episode that coincidentally airs tonight, the Emmy nominee began his answer with humor, seamlessly transitioned to a real message, and then signed off with another joke.
“Listen, listen to me. I got that contract and that contract said ‘Nudity Clause,’ and I literally sat and went, ‘Child, they don’t want to see my black ass,'” Porter recalled via satellite to reporters at the Television Critics Association press tour. “And I signed it, never thinking in a million years that anybody would call me on it.”
“These bitches wrote a script where I show my ass — and you’ll see it tonight!” he continued from Boston, where Porter is directing a play.
“I have been in this business…30 years. I have been out since the beginning,” Porter, who plays character Pray Tell on the series about 1980s New York City ball culture from Steven Canals, Brad Falchuk and Ryan Murphy said. “In the past, as an out, queer actor, they generally tend to cut our d–ks off. We are not sexualized people.”
“Even when they started telling stories of love, they were always white boys. I have spent my entire career never having been an object of anyone’s affection in anything — until now,” he added. “I had my first kiss — my first romantic kiss — in anything ever in my life, last season in Episode 8. So, to be turning 50 on September 21, and having a very loving, connected sex scene is sort of blowing my mind.”
“My nerves are frayed, I’m gonna take a Valium and watch it tonight,” Porter concluded.
“Pose” airs Tuesdays at 10/9c on FX. In addition to Porter’s Emmy nod, “Pose” is also nominated in the drama series category.
'American Horror Story' Seasons Ranked, From Campy to Creepy (Photos)
The countdown to the end of the world has begun -- so naturally the TheWrap is going to spend our final few hours ranking the first seven seasons of "American Horror Story" from the most outlandish to the truly stomach- churning. And because the next installment in Ryan Murphy's FX anthology series, titled "Apocalypse," is a mashup between "Murder House" and "Coven," these listings should give you an idea of where Season 8 will fall when it debuts Wednesday. Click through the gallery to see our definitive rankings.
Murphy brought Lady Gaga in to lead the fifth season, set at a hotel in California that is truly inhospitable to its living -- and dead -- guests, after franchise alum Jessica Lange exited the series at the end of "Freak Show." So, yeah, "Hotel" is -- and probably always will be -- the campiest of all the seasons, given the over-the-top headliner brought in to carry the narrative.
The third installment, a story of past and present witches in New Orleans, was Jessica Lange at her Jessica Lange-iest. The queen of Murphyland played the "Supreme" aka the head of the titular coven, who is fighting to remain in control as her body deteriorates. And she went toe to toe with newcomer Emma Roberts -- a cocky young witch looking to dethrone her elder -- which brought all the camp up to 11.
A season that centered around the 2016 presidential election was bound to be a little melodramatic, given the real-life events it had as a jumping-off point. Things get real dark -- but then Evan Peters (bumped up to lead alongside Sarah Paulson for the first time) rubs Cheetos all over his face and Billy Eichner makes his debut. So it oscillates wildly between horrifying and hilarious.
"Roanoke" was a unique season, a story-within-a-story that does the job of linking all the previous years together, therefore officially declaring a shared "AHS" universe. But because of the way the season was broken up, it jumped between horrific events in the past and more mundane incidents in the present. So "Roanoke" goes right here in the middle.
The camp of "Coven" disappeared come the fourth season, when Murphy brought things back to reality with his cast of freaks. It was a season filled with more internal fears, centered around characters with external features that set them apart from the rest of society. But it was also Lange's farewell installment, so she got to chew the scenery -- and sing more than one song -- as Elsa Mars, the flamboyantly costumed leader of the outcasts.
"Asylum" was, as the on-the-nose title suggests, set in an insane asylum -- in the '60s, meaning out-of-date treatments and mindsets about the mentally ill. The season also pulled in a religious motif that would send shivers down the most lapsed Catholic's spine.
The one that started it all ends this list as the creepiest of the creeps. The episodes follow the Harmon family as they move into the titular dwelling, completely unaware of all the bloodshed it's seen before them. "Murder House" ends with the whole clan dead, stuck inside their forever home -- with Michael Langdon aka the Antichrist (whom Connie Britton's character Vivien died giving birth to) alive and well, growing up right next door. Oh and...
... come "Apocalypse," Michael is an adult, played by Cody Fern, and rocking a seriously extra 'do. And it's literally the. end. of. the world. So, yeah, at the moment we'd say the mashup of Season 1 and Season 3 is going to be a real coin-flip between camp and creep.
As Ryan Murphy’s ”Apocalypse“ approaches, TheWrap looks back at FX anthology series’ seven previous installments
The countdown to the end of the world has begun -- so naturally the TheWrap is going to spend our final few hours ranking the first seven seasons of "American Horror Story" from the most outlandish to the truly stomach- churning. And because the next installment in Ryan Murphy's FX anthology series, titled "Apocalypse," is a mashup between "Murder House" and "Coven," these listings should give you an idea of where Season 8 will fall when it debuts Wednesday. Click through the gallery to see our definitive rankings.
FX
FX
