Billy Porter says work is drying up for Black & queer artists in Trump's America

Actor and activist Billy Porter joined a high-profile protest at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., as artists warn that President Donald Trump’s cultural agenda is threatening creative independence at one of the nation’s flagship institutions.

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The demonstration, featuring figures such as Jane Fonda, Joan Baez, and Jim Acosta, comes as the Kennedy Center faces a planned two-year closure after staffing cuts and a reorientation of programming under Trump’s cultural agenda. Critics say those moves threaten artistic independence and free expression.

The protest unfolded on the eve of a much larger national mobilization.

On Saturday, organizers estimate that more than eight million people took part in coordinated No Kings demonstrations across all 50 states, with more than 3,300 rallies spanning major cities and smaller communities. The protests, among the largest single-day turnouts in recent U.S. history, were driven by a mix of issues, including immigration crackdowns, the escalating war with Iran, economic concerns, and growing executive overreach.

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Speaking Saturday on MS NOW’s PoliticsNation with Al Sharpton, Porter linked the fight over arts and culture to that broader wave of protest.

“Authoritarian governments go after the arts first,” Porter said. “Because the arts have the power to reach inside of people and change the molecular structure from the inside out.”

Pressed on whether the impact of the administration’s cultural agenda is already being felt in Hollywood and on Broadway, Porter said the answer is “yes and”—early, but visible.

“As a Black gay out artist, I caught the wave of what we now know as performative wokeness,” he said. “And I crashed through glass ceilings that were concrete. And I have noticed the opportunities slowly drying up for the work that I do.”

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He contrasted the types of projects that continue to be produced with those he says are increasingly sidelined.

“The Midwest CBS shows and the cop shows… all of that stuff still exists,” Porter said. “But when it’s time to talk about heart, when it’s time to talk about connection, when it’s time to talk about people that don’t look like everybody else… there’s not a lot of that work going on right now.”

At Friday’s rally, speakers and performers highlighted the Kennedy Center changes as part of a broader pattern affecting cultural institutions, journalism, and education. Fonda warned that pressure on the arts could coincide with broader efforts to shape what information the public sees and hears, WTOP reports.

That message mirrors what organizers and participants told The Advocate ahead of Saturday’s protests, that the No Kings movement is less about a single policy and more about resisting what they see as a consolidation of political power and a shrinking space for dissent.

For Porter, the moment also carries a sense of responsibility. Asked what public figures should do with the energy of the protests, he emphasized the importance of speaking out—and the effect it can have on others. “People feel safer when we come out, and we speak,” he said. “They feel like, ‘OK, maybe I can give something of myself and join… and not feel alone.’”

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Porter is set to be honored by the National Action Network, which Al Sharpton noted has previously recognized figures including Harry Belafonte and James Brown. The acknowledgment places Porter within a lineage of artists who have used their platforms to engage in political and social debates.

Still, his message Saturday was less about recognition than urgency.

“This is not the normal resistance,” Porter said. “We have to redefine what going high looks like in this new world order. We have a government who does not follow the rules.”

Watch Billy Porter's MS NOW interview with Al Sharpton below.

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