Out actor Billy Porter reacted to his
historic Emmy Awards nomination.
Porter on Tuesday received an acting
nomination for his portrayal of Pray Tell on FX's groundbreaking
series Pose, marking the first time an openly gay black man
has been nominated for an Emmy.
Pose explores
New York's vibrant ball scene of the 1980s. It features
television's largest cast of transgender actors in series regular
roles and the largest LGBTQ cast ever for a scripted series,
according to FX. It was recently renewed for a third season.
Speaking with Deadline, Porter
said that the nomination took his breath away.
“I just haven't been breathing for
the past day,” he told the outlet. “So today, I was able to
breathe – that was my first reaction!”
“There was no context for this,” he
explained. “I said the same thing about marriage equality. When we
were growing up, there was no context because you could never see it.
I’ve always had huge dreams but I realized now that my dreams have
been springboarded off of things I have already seen.”
“They weren’t about dreaming the
impossible. They weren’t about dreaming things that didn’t exist.
Ryan Murphy, Steven Canals, Brad Falchuk, FX – everybody involved
in the show taught me how to dream the impossible,” Porter said,
referring to the show's creators and producers.
“The sky is the limit now, honey!”
he
exclaimed.
Porter added that the role was a
game-changer for him.
“I have been in this industry for 30
years and have never been the object of anyone’s affection or love
interest,” Porter said. “I have always been the gay best friend,
the clown so it’s really interesting to move [to] this space. It’s
very humbling.”