Billy Porter signed an open letter by the Creative Community For Peace asserting Israel's right to 'defend' itself, justifying the murder of tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians and the ethnic cleansing of millions more.
Actor, director
TV/FILM
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In an interview with the Guardian (March 2024), Porter was asked about his views on Palestine as he is set to play the pro-Palestinian literary giant James Baldwin, he appeared politically unaware and resentful to have been asked a question about how his views on the issue relate to Baldwin.
Porter said, "This is not my hill, and I am not going to die on it. It’s not mine! I’m not Jewish, nor am I Palestinian... What’s going on over there is horrific – the choices that we, in America, have made, are wrong. Please don’t make me a poster child for that. I don’t want to be in the conversation, because I don’t know enough about it!"
Also, "And the Palestinians – not Palestinians, what are the people called, who started the shit? The extremists?... I don’t even know. All I know is that the extremists came in and did something that was horrific, and then they retaliated."
In relation to how his views relate to Baldwin, "There’s nothing to navigate – I’m not James Baldwin, he’s a character, so I have to be true to the character. I don’t know what he was talking about in the 40s, 50s, 60s – it’s 2024 now. I don’t have the history to even know what the version of the Israel-Palestine conflict was when he was around."
Porter finally closes the interview reacting to the pro-Palestine comments he recieves on social media saying, "I’ve been getting a lot of bullshit online about it – I’m like, ‘I don’t know, y’all!’ The man’s been dead since 1987, please!"
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