Billy Porter Shuts Down Assumption He Shaded RuPaul

Billy Porter and RuPaul not only both star in shows with heavy doses of shade and fierce competition, but, in a historical moment, they both won Emmy awards for their work last night. Unfortunately, certain corners of Twitter can’t seem to tell fact apart from fiction, and decided to stir up some drama between the two openly gay black Emmy winners all thanks to a few seconds of airtime Porter received during Ru’s acceptance speech for Best Reality Competition Program for RuPaul’s Drag Race.

The moment merely saw Porter blinking during the speech, but perhaps because of the magnification of his otherwise great eyeglasses, some on Twitter instantly interpreted it as an eye roll and suggested it indicated some previously unknown beef. Which would be surprising, considering not only did the pair pose together at the 2014 Emmys and Porter follows three RuPaul-related accounts on Instagram, but in one of his earliest television appearances along with episodes of The Rosie O’Donnell Show, Porter appeared as a guest on Ru’s old VH1 talkshow from the ’90s ,according to IMDB, at a time when he was mostly known for his theater work. The pair also, separately, appeared in Taylor Swift’s recent “You Need to Calm Down” video. Ironic, considering that video also addressed the internet’s tendency to immediately pit entertainers against each other based off of almost nothing but our inner desire for drama.

After his historic win, Porter was asked about the quickly spreading assumption in the press room by Essence reporter Danielle Young, and was absolutely not having any of it.

“There’s never a side eye coming from me, there’s never anything negative coming from,” Porter empathetically declared. “Don’t come at me with that mess.

“RuPaul is a friend of mine,” he continued. “I am so proud of him. I stand on his shoulders. He is doing it He paved the way for me. So there’s never a side eye about that.”

Though, RuPaul has been criticized in the past for not openly promoting Porter’s show Pose, something his co-star Indya Moore said she addressed with Ru at the Met Gala. (To be fair, anyone who listens to RuPaul’s podcast knows the his television viewing habits mostly consist of Judge Judy and old episodes of Golden Girls and Murder She Wrote).

RuPaul also faced tough questions back stage from Young, who asked about the perceived lack of racial diversity behind-the-scenes on Drag Race. In an answer that didn’t please everyone, Ru mostly shrugged the question off by pointing to his own identity, but also added that executive producer Jacqueline Wilson, a black woman who won last night posthumously, had passed away just two weeks before the ceremony.