Billy Porter has revealed that the ongoing Hollywood strikes have forced him to sell his house in an effort to save money.
The Emmy winner, known for his work on FX's "Pose," explained during an interview with the Evening Standard that various projects he was set to work on in September have been tabled, prompting him to take cost-saving measures.
"I have to sell my house," Porter said. "Yeah! Because we're on strike. And I don't know when we're gonna go back. 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. 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 was referencing an article that appeared in Deadline in July that cited an unnamed Hollywood executive implying studios would wait until WGA members faced financial strain before resuming talks.
In his interview, Porter also criticized Disney's CEO Bob Iger for a July 13 interview at the Sun Valley Conference, during which he labeled WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikers' demands as unrealistic.
"In the late '50s, early '60s, when they structured a way for artists to be compensated properly through residual [payments], it allowed for the two percent of working actors — and there are 150,000 people in our union — who work consistently. … Then streaming came in," Porter said. "There's no contract for it. … And they don't have to be transparent with the numbers — it's not Nielsen ratings anymore. The streaming companies are notoriously opaque with their viewership figures. The business has evolved. So the contract has to evolve and change, period. To hear Bob Iger say that our demands for a living wage are unrealistic? While he makes $78,000 a day?
"I don't have any words for it, but: f*** you," Porter added about Iger. "That's not useful, so I've kept my mouth shut. I haven't engaged because I'm so enraged. … When I go back I will join the picket lines."
In July, Iger responded to questions about the strikes, saying they were "very disturbing" to him, according to Variety.
"We've talked about disruptive forces on this business and all the challenges we're facing, the recovery from COVID which is ongoing, it's not completely back," he said. "This is the worst time in the world to add to that disruption. … There's a level of expectation that [strikers] have, that is just not realistic. And they are adding to the set of the challenges that this business is already facing that is, quite frankly, very disruptive."
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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