Billy Porter Is First Openly Gay Black Man To Win Lead Actor In Drama

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Billy Porter Becomes First Openly Gay Black Man To Win In His Category

To call Billy Porter a trailblazer would be an understatement.

On Sunday night, Porter won an Emmy for his work on FX’s Pose, making him the first openly gay black man to win Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. It was a stacked category, but Billy came out victorious over Jason Bateman (Ozark), Sterling K. Brown (This Is Us), Kit Harington (Game of Thrones), Bob Odenkirk (Better Call Saul), and Milo Ventimiglia (This Is Us).

As if it’s not a big enough accomplishment already just to win, this also happened to be Porter’s first Emmy nomination–though he was previously nominated for a Golden Globe for his work on Pose. As The Week pointed out, Billy is now only an Oscar away from reaching EGOT status, previously winning a Tony for Best Actor in a Musical and a Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album with Kinky Boots.

History-making aside, Billy Porter looked damn good doing it!

Congrats on such a major achievement, 50-years-old never looked so good.