Billy Porter wants to spread positivity through his work

Billy - who starred on Broadway before finding success as a singer and actor - reflected: "In this time right now I've been really conscious about the positive, even with everything that's going on.

"As artists, we have the power to heal. [Nobel Prize-winning author] Toni Morrison says, 'This is precisely the time when artists go to work.' There's no room for fear. There's no need for silence. We write, we speak, and this is how civilisations heal."

Despite this, Billy acknowledges that societal attitudes have been slowly evolving in the right direction over recent years.

The 52-year-old star told The Independent: "A lot of times all you're hearing is the negative, when in fact the reason for the pushback, the reason for the terror from the other side, is because the change has already happened. Progress has already happened.

"Can we reframe it now? For me, that feels like an oxygen mask that I can put on myself and go, 'Oh, right, the change has already happened.'"

The 'Cinderella' star noted how much things have changed for him personally over the past two decades.

Billy - who came out as a gay as a teenager - shared: "When I entered this business they told me my queerness would be my liability, and it was. For two decades. It's not any more. It's my superpower. That's

because: The. Change. Has. Already. Happened. So what are we going to do with that energy?"