Billy Porter is our very own EGOT-to-be (he's got the Tony and the Grammy), and now he has written a powerful piece for his hometown paper entitled “Why I Am Committed to Disturbing the Peace.”

In it, he writes, An artist's job is to disturb the peace.

Keep reading for more ...

(Video still via Totally Biased w. Kamau Bell)

Via Randy Report:

James Baldwin said, “An artist’s job is to disturb the peace.” I take my job very seriously. The challenging thing about crossover success is that it sometimes comes in the form of playing characters that everyone can love for his or her diplomacy. Everyone loves Switzerland. Here’s what I need everyone to understand as we all move forward. I won a Tony Award as the big-hearted drag queen Miss Lola in Kinky Boots — a character I loved playing and will soon play again on Broadway. I suspect many of you came to the concert expecting Lola. And while there are many similarities between us, Lola is a creation of fiction and resides in the comfortable space we in show business call “commercial success.”

Billy Porter the man is a very different entity with a voice that will never be defined or confined by anything or anybody. And while I profoundly apologize for cussing in front of children, I encourage you all to harness and activate the same outrage you have for my F-Bombs and direct that energy to our “leader,” who managed to get elected even after bragging about grabbing women by their ... well, this is a family newspaper. I find myself staring in the face of a president and an administration that think it’s perfectly fine to put my humanity up for legislation — again! We already did this, y’all. Folk have already fought and died for our rights, so excuse me if I’m having a hard time worrying about other people’s comfort levels.

More here.