US actor Billy Porter sells NY home to make ends meet amidst ongoing Hollywood strike
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 10 — Emmy winner Billy Porter has put his house on sale due to financial struggles resulting from the ongoing Hollywood strike.
The 53-year-old told Evening Standard that actors are not sure when they would be going back to work.
“I have to sell my house because we’re on strike,” he said.
According to Daily Mail, the house that Porter was selling is located at Long Island, New York, which he bought in October 2020 for US$1.4 million (RM6.4 million) with his estranged husband Adam Smith.
The house is now said to be worth an estimated US$2.31 million.
The actor said people thought celebrities have enough money to ride out the strike but for him, he “already been starved out”, adding it was still cheque-to-cheque for him.
Potter said prior to the strike, he was scheduled to appear in a new movie and new television show next month.
“None of that is happening,” he added.
Hollywood actors went on strike at midnight July 14 after last-ditch talks with studios on their demands over dwindling pay and the threat posed by artificial intelligence ended without a deal.
Prior to the actors' strike, writers also spent weeks protesting outside the headquarters of the likes of Disney and Netflix, after their similar demands were not met, according to AFP.
A-list stars including George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Matt Damon, Nicole Kidman and Julia Roberts have contributed to an emergency fund which has raised more than US$15 million for out of work actors, Daily Mail reported.
Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson also donated an undisclosed sum to The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) following their decision to go on strike.
