Billy Porter Says He Was Forced to Sell His House Due to Actors’ Strike: ‘The Life Of An Artist … Is Still Check-to-Check’

Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

The continued Hollywood actors and writers strikes have begun to hurt stars like Billy Porter who revealed in a new interview that he has to sell his home to make ends meet.

Porter discussed the toll the strike has taken on his career and personal life during a new interview with the Evening Standard.

Porter blasted streaming services which have upended the old revenue systems for actors, a point of contention for both the actors and writers on strike.

“There’s no contract for it… And they don’t have to be transparent with the numbers — it’s not Nielsen ratings anymore,” Porter lamented.

“The streaming companies are notoriously opaque with their viewership figures. The business has evolved. So the contract has to evolve and change. Period!” Porter told Evening Standard reporter Craig McLean.

The actor also blasted Disney CEO Bob Iger who came under fire for recently saying that the demands from the unions currently on strike was unrealistic.

“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*** you. That’s not useful, so I’ve kept my mouth shut. I haven’t engaged because I’m so enraged. I’m glad I’ve been over here. But when I go back I will join the picket lines,” Porter said, currently in London producing a West End show.

As the conversation continued, Porter revealed he was forced to put his home up for sale.

“I have to sell my house — Because we’re on strike. And I don’t know when we’re gonna go back [to work]. The life of an artist, until you make f***-you money — which I haven’t made yet — is still cheque-to-cheque,” Porter explained.

“I was supposed to be in a new movie, and on a new television show starting in September. None of that is happening. 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 said, referencing a Deadline article where an anonymous Hollywood exec said the goal was to “let it bleed out.”