While RuPaul accepted the award for Outstanding Competition Program at the 2019 Emmys, the cameraperson cut to Billy Porter who appeared to look…unamused.
It wasn’t long before social media ran with an alleged feud between Billy and RuPaul — but Billy wasted NO time shutting it down.
via Variety:
Porter was asked backstage about his reaction earlier in the night when “RuPaul’s Drag Race” won the kudo for reality competition series. Some thought he was throwing a bit of “side eye” at RuPaul, who also celebrates the drag and LGBT community on his VH1 series. Porter was emphatic that there was no animosity between the two.
“RuPaul is a friend of mine. I am so proud of him. I stand on his shoulders. He is doing it. He paved the way for me. There’s never a side eye about that,” he said. “There’s never a side-eye coming from me. There’s never anything negative coming from me. It’s all love, it’s all light, it’s all positivity. Don’t come to me with that mess. Ever, ever, ever.”
Porter said the Emmy hardware was another form of validation, which is meaningful given that he grew up hearing that he would never amount to anything.
“I’m so grateful that I lived long enough to see the day I could stand up in front of the world as my true authentic self,” he said. “I was told that who and what I am would never be successful — period. That’s what I was told. I did not believe them.”
And there it is. Watch his backstage speech below.
