Please read your words again and let me know how they don’t imply Encores! did this out of fear of Porter:
they decided to do "The Life" for the usual Encores reasons; they thought, "Billy Porter is a name, we should ask him!"; Billy Porter said, "Yeah, I'll do it, but ONLY if I can change it." Then they had the choice between saying, "Yes, that would be great!" or "No, absolutely not." And the second choice would then have left them with a very outspoken person who was just told "No" and would likely share that news with his public.
See? You put Encores! in the imaginary position of having to do the show out of some kind of publicity blackmail from Porter. His status as gay and Black, and how this correlates to the stereotypes of “loud Black people”, are all wrapped up in his identity. Perhaps you might choose your words more carefully in the future. |
