Billy Porter on How ‘Accused’ Is an Extension of His Life Story & ‘Kinky Boots’ (VIDEO)
Fox‘s new anthology series Accused brings not only a new story each week, but also a new director whose life is intimately connected to the subject material.
Marlee Matlin directs an episode about a deaf surrogate. Tazbah Chavez directs an installment about four Navajo activists. And in Billy Porter‘s episode of Accused, debuting Tuesday, February 21 at 9/8c, the Emmy-winning star of POSE pulls from his own life for “Robyn’s Story,” centering a Black gay drag queen named Kevin/Robyn Banks. In the TV Insider exclusive clip above, J Harrison Ghee‘s Kevin/Robyn meets up with Chris Coy‘s Jamie Barnes, their closeted lover.
Each episode of Accused opens in a courtroom on the main character, with viewers knowing nothing about their supposed crime or how they ended up on trial in the first place. Flashbacks from the defendant’s point of view reveal the truth of what happened to this ordinary person caught up in an extraordinary situation, holding up a mirror up to the current times with evocative and emotional stories.
In “Robyn’s Story,” Ghee stars as the Boston teacher who is shy and mild-mannered out of drag, but onstage, she’s a fierce queen who’s all confidence and charisma. But when Kevin falls for a closeted guy secretly living a double life, their whirlwind affair leads to devastating consequences.
Elly Dassas/FOX
Porter tells TV Insider that in his episode, set in present-day, “The theme is shame and how shame costs something.” The episode debuts at a time when anti-drag and anti-trans legislation is being littered across the United States. We spoke with Porter in 2022 before these bills became more commonplace, but the timing of the episode’s release is prescient.
“The choices that we make surrounding shame and the consequences and the fallout from that” will be at the forefront of the narrative, Porter shares. “We get to see somebody in this episode who can’t get through their shame and it’s his demise,” the Tony winner explains. “And then we see somebody else who does and finds their voice.”
Ghee is a Broadway star like Porter, currently starring in the musical adaptation of Some Like It Hot co-created by Amber Ruffin. Porter knew he wanted to cast Ghee (a friend of his) from the moment he heard of the episode’s story, noting that the actor did “an amazing, magical job” on set.
Ghee “is one of my favorite Lolas” from the Broadway production of Kinky Boots, the multi-hyphenate shares, explaining why their name popped up first in his mind. Lola is the drag star at the center of the Cyndi Lauper and Harvey Fierstein musical. Porter created the role, resulting in his first Tony win in 2013. The success of the musical — and Porter’s powerhouse performance in it — catapulted the 53-year-old into their current TV and film success after decades of fighting to be seen and recognized by the industry (Porter is the first openly gay Black man to win the Emmy for lead actor in a drama series).
As for the personal stories Porter is pulling into the tale, he simply replies “All of them!”
“Being Black and queer in America is a really hard thing. Growing up in the church and being maligned by your own people, the church, and the government because of who you are creates a lot of shame,” he adds. “So I know what that feels like to live inside of shame. I also know what it feels like to be set free from it a bit. And it’s a constant choice. It’s active. It’s not always easy. I love that I get to be at the helm of telling stories like this, because we, as artists, are healers.”
Elly Dassas/FOX
“Robyn’s Story” is “all an extension” of Lola and Kinky Boots, from its themes all the way through the costume design, for which Porter says costume designer Kendra Terpenning “really pulled out all the stops,” adding “they are stunning, stunning, stunning.” Those Robyn costumes will be seen in the episode’s three drag performances, one of which features a Porter track.
“We landed on house music,” Porter says of the song selections. “I did a song with the Shapeshifters that’s the final song in this episode. And then a couple of others from that catalog of Defective Records. I’m really excited about the music and the performances.”
Little research had to be done for the creation of this one-episode arc. “The research is me,” he says with a joyous laugh.
“That’s what’s special about my journey in particular,” says the showbiz veteran. “I was told from haters and allies alike that my queerness would be my liability, and it was for a really long time until it wasn’t. And now it’s my superpower. To be able to sit in the fullness of that, that’s the reason why I got the call from [series creator] Howard Gordon to do this, because I sit in my truth and the truth does set you free.”
Accused, Tuesdays, 9/8c, Fox
