Billy Porter opened his performance at Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s Democratic National Convention luncheon Tuesday with a live rendition of “Can’t Sing This Song Again.” The track, he says, is a direct response to Sam Cooke’s 1964 recording “A Change Is Gonna Come,” and a fitting anthem for the political juncture at which the country finds itself.
“We’ve been singing that song for 60 years-plus, and, unfortunately, the tone of it, at least in my experience, is the change comes and [we think] we’ve arrived,” Porters tells The Hollywood Reporter. “No, no, no, no, no. When they go low, of course, we go high, and it’s time for us to reevaluate what going high looks like in this new world order.
“I look at somebody like John Lewis, to the day he died he was in the fight,” adds Porter. “You don’t arrive anywhere. We maintain and we show up every day until we do create a more perfect union and a change that is for good.”
The actor’s words underscore his hopes for the future of democracy as well as the Democratic Party whom he cautions against becoming too comfortable in the momentum that currently surrounds the presidential nominee ticket of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.
Below, Porter talks with THR about the work he’s done on the campaign front, his thoughts about Joe Biden stepping down and why he won’t entertain the “social media trolls” that critiqued him kissing the President’s hand at the White House’s Juneteenth celebration earlier this summer.
How was your performance today?
It was amazing. It’s wonderful to be inside of this energy once again, and to feel hope again since the Harris-Walz announcement. This ticket and all of this sort of transformation in the 11th hour, you couldn’t write it better than that. If it was in a Hollywood movie you wouldn’t believe it. I was at a fundraiser in Provincetown the day before the announcement happened and Vice President Harris was there, and Mayor Pete [Buttigieg] was there, and all the staff and they all deserve an Academy Award because when I tell you Vice President Harris and the respect and the love that she has for Joe Biden. We were there that day for a Biden Victory Fund, and you never would’ve imagined what was announced the next day. And that was already in the works. There’s nothing like that that happens in 24 hours. So they knew, and the respect, the honor that she displayed, that they both displayed, on that day was beyond. It’s really exciting.
What was your reaction when you found out Joe Biden had ended his bid for reelection?
Well, it’s the right thing to do, right? Initially, he was meant to be a one-term president. He said that himself; we lost the plot. The only way that a woman is going to get into office is if she’s ushered in the way that this has happened, which is by a man who’s in power. He chose her for this reason, and now we’re back on track and I am so thrilled. I haven’t been able to breathe for eight years straight. I am a Black gay man in America. My rights have been up for legislation since the moment I could comprehend thought, every single day that I breathe. I have never felt safe anywhere on this planet, ever. And the last time I felt pseudo-safe was during Obama and then the rug was pulled out from under us because, as history proves, and for those of us who don’t know our history, we’re doomed to repeat it. Not enough people remember Jim Crow as a direct response to the Emancipation Proclamation. We have to be ready. We have to be ready for the backlash. We cannot get caught with our pants down again. We got a Black president. We got civil rights, we got women’s rights, we got marriage equality, and we thought we won something, but it’s never over. If there’s one thing that I hope we’ve learned this time around as we move into something that feels like hope again, is we can’t be caught unaware again. We’ve got to be ready, collectively.
Having been a part of the 2020 DNC festivities, how does the energy feel this year in comparison?
It’s joyous again, it’s hopeful again, it’s almost magical, and I don’t want to fall into the trap. We can’t fall into the trap of expecting a savior or a hero in anyone. One, the electorate must stay engaged. Yes, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz will lead, but we have to continue to be the wind at their backs. They can’t do it if we sit on the couch again and eat bon bons and don’t show up for midterm elections. They can’t do it if we don’t vote down the ballot so that we can get all three branches of government so we can get legislation through. None of it happens if we don’t, as the electorate, do those things. This time, I hope that we’ve learned something. I hope that the messaging is clear and can continue to engage. I think our young people this time are more engaged. I love how the torch has been passed to this younger coalition because our kids are smart and it’s time for them to take over. The children are our future. The way that those young kids are using social media to clap back and the way that we communicate now, it feels young. It feels like there are people in that room who know what they’re doing because the old people don’t. We don’t.
Biden was highly praised for his speech during the DNC Monday night. What feelings did it bring up for you?
Look at this man, 50-plus years of public service. We pulled him out of retirement to save democracy and he did. He and his administration held onto democracy by a thread for the last four years. The way they treated that man is unconscionable. Where we have ended up is absolutely the right thing, but the way that we got here was unconscionable and the Democrats, we must learn how to not eat our own. There were Democrats who publicly jumped ship moments after that [presidential] debate. As fast as they could spit, they abandoned this man who literally saved the world. I’m grateful for last night. I’m grateful that we were able to give that man his flowers in public. I’m grateful for him. I’m grateful that he understood the power that he had to usher us into a new world. We’re going to have a Black-Asian female president because he was able to step back, put his ego out the way and pass the torch. I can’t even talk about it without weeping. It’s a new day. It really, really is, and this time, I think, that not only can we have a change, but change for good.
You seemingly gave Biden his flowers at the White House Juneteenth celebration this summer when you were captured kissing his hand. There was a lot of backlash to that photo. What do you say to that?
I’m glad that you asked me that question because I don’t respond to internet mess. I don’t respond to social media mess. My motto is I do not now, nor will I ever adjudicate my life or humanity in sound bites on social media. What those social media trolls didn’t know was that I had been invited to the White House that morning to sit on the dais and talk about solutions. What they don’t know and what they didn’t see in the photos that they didn’t run was that I kissed the Vice President’s hand too. I kissed the second gentleman’s hand as well. What they’re not talking about and what makes whatever that was idiotic is the drawing that you put me up against is of a slave thanking the man that freed them. I will kiss that man’s hand to the grave and whatever noise that was going on over there is ridiculous. I’m 55 years old in September and I’ve been Black and gay all my life and what I do know is that as a queer man in this world, I’m not supposed to be on the front row with the president and the First Lady. I’m supposed to be hiding in a closet somewhere silent. That’s what that moment was about. And please understand, daddy ain’t ever going to be silent. And I’m up there in a sparkly kaftan dress too. How dare I, right? The audacity that I have to take up space in this world. That’s what I think about that.
All sorts of groups are mobilizing to ensure Kamala Harris secures the presidency in November. Have you been on any of the Zoom calls or joined any specific efforts?
I’ve been on a few calls and I’m an official surrogate for this campaign. That fundraiser that I went to in Provincetown, I took a picture with the Vice President and when I walked in the room she called me by name. She said, “Billy, where’s the sparkly kaftan today?” I’ve been political my whole life and I’m grateful that I have a platform now to speak from my perspective, and that people are hearing it and people are listening. It’s important that we show up. It’s not all red carpets and fairy dust. I’m in the space now where we have to show up and it is political. Very often we’re told, “oh, don’t make it political.” It is. Everything is political, particularly when you’re Black and you’re gay. Everything I do is intentional and speaks to how we move forward and makes sure that our government represents the people. All the people.
