Billy Porter apologises to Harry Styles for criticising Vogue cover
“Harry Styles, I apologise to you for having your name in my mouth"
Billy Porter has apologised to Harry Styles after criticising his Vogue cover shoot in which the singer wore a dress on the cover.
Styles made history as US Vogue’s first-ever male solo cover star in December 2020 where he was pictured wearing a Gucci dress and skirt.
Porter had expressed his objection to the magazine’s decision to feature Styles in a recent interview with The Times.
The American singer and actor said: “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.”
He added: “I’m not dragging Harry Styles, but he is the one you’re going to try and use to represent this new conversation? He doesn’t care, he’s just doing it because it’s the thing to do.”
Porter has often been spotlighted for his statement fashion choices, which have included wearing a tuxedo style ball gown at the 2019 Academy Awards.
He continued: “This is politics for me. This is my life. I had to fight my entire life to get to the place where I could wear a dress to the Oscars and not be gunned now. All he has to do is be white and straight.”
Now, the ‘Pose’ star has offered an apology to Styles after an appearance on ‘The Late Show With Stephen Colbert’ yesterday (November 4).
“Harry Styles, I apologise to you for having your name in my mouth,” he said.
“It’s not about you. The conversation is not about you.”
He added that the conversation is “deeper than that”, explaining that “it is about the systems of oppression and erasure of people of colour who contribute to the culture”.
He continued: “Now, that’s a lot to unpack. I’m willing to unpack it, sans the dragging and cancel culture of the internet, because I do not now, nor will ever, adjudicate my life or humanity in sound bites on social media. So when you’re ready to have the real conversation, call a bitch. OK? I’m ready to have it!”
He reaffirmed that he was sorry to Styles before adding “I didn’t mean no harm. I’m a gay man. We like Harry, he’s cute!”