Billy Porter says ‘Trump's response to the pandemic is genocide’

‘Pose’ actor said Obama would never have got away with a similar response

The Pose star and performer Billy Porter has said that the president’s response to the coronavirus is “genocide”.

In an interview with NME, the Emmy Award-winning actor spoke about the American government’s handling of the pandemic. “Trump ain’t sick yet. He’s lying to us and doing something else behind closed doors. There is no way that b*** shouldn’t be in hospital on a ventilator if he was living the way he’s talking.”

Porter continued, “It’s called genocide. That’s what it’s called; who’s gonna say that? Who’s going to remove him? It’s treason.”

The Trump administration has been criticised for its response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Across Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America, views of the US handling of the coronavirus crisis are uniformly negative. During a White House briefing in April, Trump suggested that injecting disinfectant would be a possibly effective means to combat the virus.

The Tony Award-winner also said, “I can tell you, if it was a black man, it would not have happened.” He added, “If Obama had done one of the things that this white man has done, they would have hung him from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, from a tree for all the world to see, two weeks into this mess.”

In the interview, Porter also said, “America is f*****. It’s really f*****. To sit and watch the news as a black man at 50-years-old and see… it’s all because of whiteness.

“It’s a cancer that has metastasised all over us, all over the rest of the f****** world.”

Porter added, “That this white man [Trump] who was a D student, who was a liar, who’s a con artist can win the presidency of the United States of America and destroy the entire world in the process? That’s privilege.

“That’s the white privilege ‘cause the black man would never be able to do that.”

Porter is a Broadway theatre performer, singer and actor best known for his leading role in the acclaimed series Pose.