Billy Porter has a bone to pick with Anna Wintour.
Two years ago, Harry Stylesbecame the first man to appear solo on the cover of Vogue, but not everyone believes he was breaking down barriers.
Broadway star and fashion icon Porter recently said in an interview with The Telegraph that he believes Styles was given the cover over other candidates because he is "white and straight."
"It doesn't feel good to me," he said. "You're using my community — or your people are using my community — to elevate you. You haven't had to sacrifice anything."
Porter, who is openly LGBTQ+, is known for his gender-neutral fashion, embracing traditionally feminine garments. He also revealed that he had spoken with Vogue Editor-in-Chief Wintour just months before the explosive cover.
"That bitch said to me at the end, ‘How can we do better?'" Porter continued. "And I was so taken off guard that I didn't say what I should have said."
Porter said that he wishes he had told her to "use your power as Vogue to uplift the voices of the leaders of this de-gendering of fashion movement." He noted that "six months later, Harry Styles is the first man on the cover."
In response to his recent comments, a spokesperson for Vogue told E! News: "We of course regret that Billy feels as he does, and Vogue completely recognizes the tremendous amount of work he has done driving the conversation forward around genderless fashion."
Porter has been outspoken in his criticisms of the publication before, criticizing the same cover in a 2021 interview with The Sunday Times, where he spoke on his experiences as a Black, openly LGBTQ+ man.
"I feel like the fashion industry has accepted me because they have to," he said. "I'm not necessarily convinced and here is why: I created the conversation [about non-binary fashion] and yet Vogue still put Harry Styles, a straight white man, in a dress on their cover for the first time."
If there is one thing we know and respect about Porter it's that he isn't afraid to speak his mind and to speak truth to power.
