Pose's Billy Porter tells us how he found strength in tonight's gut-wrenching episode
Note: This interview discusses the plot of the Pose episode “The Fever.”
In its first season, Pose has offered a loving look at the lives of people all too rarely seen on TV. The drama has created a safe space for trans people of color while calling out the transphobia and racism that exist in the queer community. We’ve witnessed narrow victories and defeats on and off the runway, as well as heartbreak and first love, all set against the backdrop of the AIDS crisis. But creators Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Steven Canals have spent much of the first half of the season focusing on queer people’s joy.
But tonight’s episode, “The Fever,” which was written by Janet Mock and directed by Gwyneth Horder-Payton, wraps with one of the most devastating moments of the season. Pray Tell, the impossibly witty emcee whose reads have reduced some queens to tears, is diagnosed with HIV at a time when such news was seen as a death sentence, due in part to the Reagan administration’s utter indifference.
The iconic Billy Porter, who won a Tony for playing Lola in Kinky Boots, plays Pray Tell with a mix of loving playfulness and almost unnerving directness (pray you’re never the subject of one of his barbs). The A.V. Club spoke with Porter about those heartbreaking closing moments, as well as refusing to wait for the doors to greater representation to be opened for him.
The A.V. Club: Pose is full of wonderful characters, but Pray Tell might be the breakout—he’s certainly the most quotable. What goes into bringing that character to life?
Billy Porter: Well, the role of Pray Tell is essentially an alter ego of myself. As a black gay man living in America, there has never been a representation of that in the mainstream, I think, that has been drawn in such a three-dimensional way. You know, we’re either… I have experienced it outside of Angels In America and George Wolfe’s The Colored Museum—it’s really rare that you find black gay people, black gay men especially, that aren’t simply just flamboyant. Just over the top. The other side, the human side, is often lost inside of those narratives. I knew going in that would not happen with Ryan Murphy, and I was excited to be the person that gets to represent that.
AVC: You mention your experience as a black gay man—what do you think of how the show addresses racism in the gay community?