Billy Porter slams Harry Styles' Vogue cover and Anna Wintour for 'using' non-binary community

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By Nasima Khatun

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Billy Porter has hit out at Harry Styles and Anna Wintour once again for the singer's "controversial" 2020 Vogue cover.

Speaking to The Telegraph on Friday, the Pose star, who is gay, opened up about his contempt for the outlet saying: "It’s not Harry Styles’ fault that he happens to be white and cute and straight and fit into the infrastructure that way.

"I call out the gatekeepers," he added, insinuating that there were other people behind the scenes lifting Styles into the position.

"Non-binary blah blah blah blah. No," Porter continued. "It doesn’t feel good to me. You’re using my community - or your people are using my community - to elevate you.

"You haven’t had to sacrifice anything," he said.

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Billy Porter hit out at Harry Styles' Vogue cover. Credit: Santiago Felipe/Getty

The 53-year-old also opened up about previous conversations he's had with the outlet's editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, stating that the pair wanted to use Vogue to push forward the "de-gendering of fashion movement."

But then they gave the 29-year-old 'Sign of the Times' the history-making cover.

"That b**** said to me at the end, 'How can we do better?' And I was so taken off guard that I didn’t say what I should have said," Porter told the publication, which was: "Use your power as Vogue to uplift the voices of the leaders of this de-gendering of fashion movement.

"Six months later, Harry Styles is the first man on the cover."

The news comes two years after Porter originally spoke out against Styles and his famous cover shoot.

"I changed the whole game," he told the Sunday Times in October 2021. "And that is not ego, that is just fact. I was the first one doing it and now everybody is doing it.

"I feel like the fashion industry has accepted me because they have to. I’m not necessarily convinced, and here is why: I created the conversation, and yet Vogue still put Harry Styles, a straight white man, in a dress on their cover for the first time."

The actor then added that he was attacking Vogue and not Styles personally, but did mention that the singer's background has aided him in his advancement.

"I’m not dragging Harry Styles, but he is the one you’re going to try and use to represent this new conversation?", he asked.

"He doesn’t care, he’s just doing it because it’s the thing to do. 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 down. All he has to do is be white and straight."

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Billy Porter has long been using his platform to de-gender fashion. Credit: Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty

He also doubled down on the fact that this wasn't personal during an interview on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.

"Harry Styles, I apologize to you for having your name in my mouth," he said before adding: "It’s not about you. The conversation is not about you. The conversation is actually deeper than that. It is about the systems of oppression and erasure of people of color who contribute to the culture."

Featured Image Credit: Amy Sussman/Getty