The Screen Actors Guild and Writers Guild of America strike is still ongoing and the people in the entertainment industry are feeling it, including actor Billy Porter.
Porter shared with London newspaper Evening Standard that he has to sell his house.
“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.”
Like countless others, The Pose alum, 53, is in the midst of a historical joint writers and actors strike.
Porter slammed Disney chief executive Bob Iger for previously making remarks in which he claimed those on strike had demands that were “just not realistic.” The Cinderella actor shot back, adding, “To hear Bob Iger say that our demands for a living wage are unrealistic? While he makes $78,000 a day?”
That figure was also recently quoted by SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher in a live-streamed speech last month.
Porter said that he hasn’t engaged because he is so enraged, but when he returns to the U.S. he will be joining the picket lines.
He also responded to a widely shared quote from an anonymous industry exec published in Deadline last month who stated, “The endgame is to allow things to drag on until union members start losing their apartments and losing their houses.”
“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 during his conversation with the Evening Standard.
In April, it was announced that Porter would take on the role of celebrated author and civil rights activist James Baldwin in an upcoming biopic. As the strike continues, the future of the project remains unclear.
“As a Black queer man on this planet with relative consciousness, I find myself, like James Baldwin said, ‘in a rage all the time,’” Porter shared in a statement obtained by The Hollywood Reporter as news of the biopic made its rounds in April. “I am because James was. I stand on James Baldwin’s shoulders, and I intend to expand his legacy for generations to come.”
Porter isn’t the only actor speaking out on low pay. Abbot Elementary actor William Standford Davis, shared a residual check on social media that would leave people speechless.
His caption reads, “There ain’t nothing funny about a .03¢ residual check! What are we supposed to do with that? I stand strong with our union as we fight for what’s ours and for the success of the future generations.
….
#sagaftra #wgastrong #strike #solidarity“
Davis also shared that he’s joined the picket lines, alongside his co-star Sheryl Lee Ralph.
SAG announced that an interim agreement has been put in place to allow union members to work on independent productions and pay their bills.
Roughly 140 productions have been granted interim agreements, like Kevin Costner-produced The Gray House, Ishana Night Shyamalan’s The Watchers and A24’s Death of a Unicorn. They allow independently financed films to proceed if they comply with SAG-AFTRA’s terms. But indie producers have also had questions about who qualifies since the agreements have been issued.
Working on an independent film could be an option for Porter.
The LGBTQIA+ star is currently one Oscar away from reaching EGOT status, so it’s heartbreaking to know that he has to give up his home. Goes to show that actors aren’t being compensated fairly for the phenomenal work they are doing.
