onstagepittsburgh.com: It was officially Billy Porter Day in Hollywood on December 1 on Thursday, but it is always Billy Porter Day in his hometown of Pittsburgh.
Porter, the Emmy-, Tony- and Grammy-winning favorite son of Pittsburgh, was honored on Thursday with the 2,741st star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
7 comments:
I am so unbelievably glad that Billy Porter finally has a star on the walk of fame. It is hight time in my mind and I absolutely adored the speech he gave for the occasion. I have always found billy porter to be an absolutely inspiring person. His dedication to our shared home town of Pittsburgh and his work to lift it up and to better it for those who have been hurt and ignored by the city is always amazing. His inspiration as a creator of theatre is beautiful, and only bettered by his dedication to help others find the same joy in it. And his work as an artist in all ways is some of the most inspiring work to me. The way that he is always real when he talks about the world is something I really admire. He doesn't sugar coat it at all, and always tells it like it is. I appreciate that ability to keep it real, yet to aspire to a better world. And twice now I have heard him use the quote "this is when artists go to work" in a speech. And I think he is so right. And personally I think no one does the work better than him.
I had no idea Billy Porter received a star on the walk of fame. I don't know if I'm just that out of touch with what's going on in pop culture or this just wasn't publicized enough. Could be both. Considering how little attention our society pays to black excellence, especially queer black excellence, I would not be surprised if the media were overlooking this moment. In some ways it feels like Billy Porter has been "around" forever because of his lustrous career on Broadway, but it's truly only recently that his star has risen as high as it has. Pose catapulted his Hollywood career and he hasn't looked back. I truly find his tenacity and commitment to his authentic self to be inspiring, and that he hasn't sacrificed who he is in order to achieve his dreams. I remember finding some old headshots of his this summer when helping to clean out the Head's office; it's obvious that even when he was a student he knew he was going to be somebody. I don't even mean a famous somebody. He just exudes a confidence that is undeniable. Some might call it ego, and some might be right, but I'd like to think that Billy Porter just knows he has something to offer and that he deserves big things. I'm glad to see someone who doesn't fit into society's neat, little boxes being celebrated. I'm glad that little boys and girls who see themselves in Billy also see that their dreams are achievable. The Walk of Fame might seem trivial to some, but it's a momentous societal achievement to be celebrated in such a way. It is important.
For some reason, the Hollywood walk of fame always felt like a movie and music thing. I thought it was a honor for recording artists. To see and stage artist, I know and love be honored is amazing. I know he’s been in movies and has released music, but he is first and foremost in my mind a life artist. Billy Porter does exactly what he said in his speech, disturb the peace. But he does so is the way that draws attention to the fact that not everyone is the same. He makes space for himself so that he doesn’t have to blend into the mold, but he also allows others who don’t fit the mold to have someone to look up to. Although personally, I don’t normally enjoy Billy Porter style, there’s no doubt he has some. It was only fitting his outfit be a topic of discussion in this article. His speech is beautiful. It’s thoughtful, while also not betting to the will of others. I’m proud to have reported as an alumni of my school. And I hope that when I graduate, I will be able to be a thoughtful, insightful, and inventive as he is. Billy Porter is so inspiring and I am so glad he is now among the stars on the Hollywood walk of fame. If I ever go visit Hollywood, I know what I’ll be looking for.
Billy Porter is someone who I went through high school looking up to. How open he is in the LGBTQ community and how does not let anyone stop him from being himself. Kinky Boots was a show that helped me come out and that's how I found out who he was. It brings me so much joy to see him get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Literally when it got released he was getting screamed in public. This article talks about how he is someone who has credits to back him up in different aspects and roles in this industry but also is just this positive person who deserves this platform. I didn't get to read his speech until literally just now and I loved it so much! I love how positive he is even when he is talking about hate in this world like when he talks about combating it with love instead. I also love how Billy Portertalks about being himself and how he is always been told to dim it down but he never has. I feel like that just shows how important it is to be yourself and not be afraid to be yourself.
Billy Porter is an incredibly talented and influential individual who continuously strives to give opportunities to those within the LGBTQ+ community. Giving them an outlet to showcase their talent and immerse themselves in an inclusive performance based environment. To see an alumni from the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama achieve such exceptional accolades and success within their career makes me excited to see where the possibilities of my future can go to. I appreciate and admire how family orientated Billy is and how he is always seeking to uplift his admirers through exhibiting through his own circumstances. He exhibits how the challenges in which he faces in life still make him want to go on and grow from them. Porter absolutely deserved this star on the walk of fame as he has made his mark in multiple areas from theater to fashion. He is truly a star! Also I did not know he was born in Pittsburgh.
This is so well deserved. Billy Porter has shined in all corners of the entertainment industry, from stage to film to television. I’ve been aware of many of his accomplishments, but to see them all written out here is something else. It feels like the most impressive resume to date. He has become such a big name, but also maintains a sense of kindness and authenticity. You can tell from each and every speech that he makes that his heart is always in the right place, and he genuinely cares about making the industry better than it was when he entered it. No “pay your dues” attitude here. In regard to the Star, I wonder what the selection process is to earn a star on the Walk of Fame. Is there a committee that votes on it? Is there one distributed per year? More? These honors are so well known, but this aspect of it is a mystery to me.
It is really nice that Billy Porter finally received a star on the Walk of Fame, especially someone who has been consistently working in the industry both on stage and screen for so long. I personally think that the Walk of Fame is kind of stupid and an obvious tourist trap and I have been many a time because I live near Los Angeles and often have to take friends who are visiting for the first time and want to see it. I would hope he is receiving more recognition and accolades for all of his years of work in the industry rather than just something relatively insignificant and kind of silly, but I do know that the stars mean a lot to some folks. It is hugely important to give things like stars on the Walk of Fame to people in the LGBTQ+ and BIPOC communities because we often see things like this being whitewashed and it does not always represent the community of the more deserving as a whole.
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