Billy Porter Responds to Anti-LGBTQ Anger Over 'Sesame Street' Episode

Billy Porter has zero time for people who are mad about him heading to Sesame Street.

The long-running children’s show announced Porter’s upcoming appearance after the episode finished shooting at the end of January. Because conservatives can’t stand the thought of children finding out gay people exist, or that sometimes men can wear dresses (Quick! Hide the history books!), the backlash was immediate.

One Republican Senator even went so far as to threaten to propose cutting funding to his state’s PBS affiliate over the role, echoing the outcry that happened after Arthur aired an episode featuring gay rats getting married.

“Do you approve of your taxpayer dollars being used to promote the radical LGBTQ agenda?” he asked on Facebook, jumping into the comments to attack people who expressed their support of the episode.

But Porter is taking it all in stride.

“If you don’t like it, don’t watch it,” he told Page Six. It’s a simple solution that should work for anyone, but of course anti-LGBTQ activists don’t just want to avoid queerness themselves, they want it kept out of reach of all people.

But, Porter points out, it’s not as if he’s going on Sesame Street to talk about “perverted demon sex.” He’s merely an actor who is on the show, and who is gay, and who is wearing a beautiful outfit that literally will not traumatize any children whatsoever.

“Like, what about me singing with a penguin [on the show] has anything to do with what I’m doing in my bedroom?” he asked. “The really interesting thing for me is that’s what it’s all about when it comes to LGBTQ people — the first thing everyone wants to talk about is how we having sex.”

“Stay out of my bedroom and you will be fine — that is none of your business.”