Billy Porter is expressing his dissatisfaction with Harry Styles’ 2020 Vogue cover.
In an interview with The Telegraph, Porter explained that he believed Styles got the first male cover because he’s “white and he’s straight.”
“It doesn’t feel good to me. You’re using my community — or your people are using my community — to elevate you. You haven’t had to sacrifice anything,” he said.
Porter also mentioned that before the cover was released, editor-in-chief Anna Wintour interviewed him, seeking guidance on how to lead Vogue. “That bitch said to me at the end, ‘How can we do better?’ And I was so caught off guard that I didn’t say what I should have said,” he said.
Porter revealed that he had urged Wintour to “use your power as Vogue to uplift the voices of the leaders of this de-gendering of fashion movement … Six months later, Harry Styles is the first man on the cover.”
Porter has previously expressed his dislike for Styles’ Vogue cover, clarifying that it was not a personal attack against the artist. “I’m not dragging Harry Styles, but he is the one you’re going to try and use to represent this new conversation? He doesn’t care, he’s just doing it because it’s the thing to do.”
“This is politics for me. This is my life. I had to fight my entire life to get to the place where I could wear a dress to the Oscars and not be gunned down. All he has to do is be white and straight.”