Actor Billy Porter sparked praise and outrage when he wore a black crushed velvet tuxedo gown designed by Christian Siriano to the 2019 Oscar Awards in Hollywood on Sunday. Twitter users were in a frenzy, expressing praise and admiration for the openly homosexual actor who stars in “Pose” on FX Network.
Porter was accompanied to the Oscars by his life partner Adam Porter-Smith.
Vogue magazine explained:
“The custom creation by designer Christian Siriano included a sharply tailored tuxedo jacket overtop a full-skirted strapless velvet gown. A play on masculinity and femininity, the look challenged the rigid Hollywood dress code and was boundary-pushing in all the right ways.”
“What is masculinity?” Porter said in an interview with Vogue on the red carpet. “What does that mean? Women show up every day in pants, but the minute a man wears a dress, the seas part.”
Many Black men took to social media to voice their outrage over what they perceive as the left’s ongoing campaign to emasculate Black men via the media.