During a recent interview, Emmy-winning actor Billy Porter opened up about the financial strain the recent actors’ strike has put on him. He told the Evening Standard that his upcoming projects have been delayed, meaning that his income has been slashed in recent months. “None of that is happening,” he revealed, “I have to sell my house.” He continued, “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*ck-you money – which I haven’t made yet – is still check-to-check.”
The actor went on to cite an article published by Deadline last month, which showcased accounts from various executives weighing in on the strike anonymously. In the article, one executive shared that the goal of studios was to wait the strike out until strikers began feeling the consequences of striking. “The endgame is to allow things to drag on until union members start losing their apartments and losing their houses,” they claimed.
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Billy Porter Criticizes Executives
“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 explained. He went on to call out the CEO of Disney, Bob Iger, who recently dubbed the expectations of strikers “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 says.
“There’s no contract for it,” the actor continued. “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*ck you.”
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