Billy Porter: Black Christians 'Oppress' LGBTQ Like White Slavers, 'Christianity Is the Colonizer's Religion'
Emmy-winning Hollywood star Billy Porter accused black Christians of “weaponizing the Bible” against the LGBTQ community in an incendiary interview with journalist April Ryan of TheGrio.
Billy Porter launched into a tirade after April Ryan asked for his thoughts on being a black gay man during Pride Month. The actor not only called out the government and “white people,” but also black Christians, saying they “oppress” the groups associated with Pride just like white Europeans once oppressed African slaves.
“I’m talking about black people too, who have turned their back on the LGBTQ+ community, using and weaponizing the Bible for the justification for their hate. It’s called hate. I don’t care how you word it. Hate the sin, not the sinner,” he said.
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Porter then slammed Christianity, saying it was “forced” on black people.
It’s the miseducation of not understanding that Christianity is the colonizer’s religion. Christianity is what white people forced on us after bringing us over, stealing us from our own country, bringing us over here to build this country, and they told us that Jesus told them to do it and we’ll have rewards on the other side. And that’s the same doctrine that you’re using to oppress another group of people. No! The answer is no!
The actor said he still has his Bible from when he was a child.
“I know exactly what the Bible says and it does not say to treat people that way that ya’ll have been treating us.”
Porter made similar remarks in a separate interview with the entertainment site Awards Daily, calling out “all of our organized religions that weaponize the Bible to use it against oppressed groups of people that they don’t have any interest in understanding.”
“I’m tired of it,” he added. “I’m tired of the cherry-picking of the Bible, that was written over 2,000 years ago by men, by artists, just like our artists today.”
Last month, Billy Porter publicly revealed his HIV-positive status in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. He said he kept it a secret for 14 years out of fear of discrimination in the entertainment industry.
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