Jonathan Bailey and Elton John discussed their own experiences being in public during a conversation that was part of the inaugural Elton John Impact Awards, which honored evil Star and other leading LGBTQ+ community members and prominent allies.
During the discussion, John asked Bailey if he felt pressured to hide the fact that he was gay, if he was afraid to come out, or if he had enough confidence that it didn’t matter. Billy replied that he felt a combination of all three.
“I think there’s a lot of nuance to it,” he said, adding: “In a way, I feel like I instinctively knew myself at a very young age actually, and the hardware is trust. And then of course, you just have to deal with these stories and these narratives that are like cobwebs. And the closer you get, the more you find acting. And I think the reason I loved acting is because for the first time, in a world where you have to kind of code-switch and be hypervigilant about what you’re saying and how you’re communicating it, especially with your peers, if they’re going to acknowledge something you’re saying Or the way you say it as indicative of your sexuality, and then having a script and being able to lean into the right thing to do and then be honest about that, that’s a really good thing. “
The actor, whose credits also include Bridgerton and fellow travelers, He said that as acting became something he thought of as a career rather than just a hobby, he became more aware of the proverbial glass ceiling.
“I was well aware of that [of] “The possibilities and limits of gay actors and what that means to audiences and whether that trickles down to the trade and how that impacts it. So yeah, I think when I was in my early 20s, there was definitely an understanding that being gay was going to be a disadvantage,” he said.
In the end, he realized that he needed to be himself and not make any compromises.
“I didn’t want to hold my boyfriend’s hand in the street, and that was something I felt strongly about on an animalistic side,” he said. “And of course if that means it will hinder any potential business, then I’m willing to take that risk.”
Billy shared that he feels lucky to live in a more accepting time than when John became an adult at a time when there were no gay role models to look up to.
“I didn’t know what gay was in the 1950s,” John agreed. “Nobody, there were no gay people in my family. There were no examples of it. I didn’t experience homosexuality until I was 23. And after that, everything just blossomed, you know. It was like a rocket that took off.”
To Billy, it seemed like a British soap opera This life (“I remember being so fired up and excited”) and Little mermaid (“I was obsessed with Prince Eric, which I later understood.”)
“And then Brokeback Mountain I came out when I was in sixth grade [final two years of secondary school in the U.K.]and I changed my thesis about representation in terms of homosexuality in Brokeback Mountain“Just so I would have an excuse to go back to the cinema about 15 times,” he said. “But even though the stories themselves were painful, it was enough to see the actors perform them, which just shows how weak we were at that point.”
He also praised “brave gay actors” such as Ian McKellen who “came out from the start.” Fellow travelers Star Matt Bomer and others from whom he learned. He also expressed his hope that the next generation would not be able to hide their sexuality.
“I wonder if the next generation just needs to know how to harness the joy they can deliver to their fans and in the stories they tell,” he said. “And just know that we’re going to need it more than ever. Because obviously it’s an amazing time where there’s a real threat that things can get away with it. But that’s an amazing thing, isn’t it? The intergenerational relationships and being part of a community where we’re all just benefactors of those who came before us.”
The Elton John Impact Awards are presented by iHeartRadio and P&G, in partnership with the Elton John AIDS Foundation and Brandi Carlile’s Looking Out Foundation. Other honorees are Laverne Cox, Melissa Etheridge, Billie Jean King, Orville Peck and Chapelle Rowan. The special, hosted by Billy Porter and Elvis Duran, launched as a podcast series June 1 on the iHeartRadio app and the podcasts are heard everywhere and as a special audio broadcast across iHeartRadio PRIDE stations. Special Features John performing “Your Song” by Dove Cameron along with candid personal conversations with Elton John; John’s husband, David Furnish, is president of the Elton John AIDS Foundation; And this year’s honorees.
