Janet Mock Had A Lot To Say About Hollywood, Unequal Pay, And Infidelity At The “Pose” Premiere
The third and final season of FX’s Pose starts tonight, and to celebrate the groundbreaking show’s last bow, a premiere party was held at Jazz at Lincoln Center in NYC on Thursday night. And while Billy Porter once again brought the glamour by doing himself up as the gorgeous leader of a cult that worships window covering samples, Janet Mock, who is a producer, writer, and director on the show, brought the drama, messiness, and (in the voice of Oprah) HER TRUTH! Janet went off on Hollywood, slammed the fact that she only made $40k an episode, admitted that some of the show’s writing was not up to par, and told everyone that she cheated on her boyfriend, Angel Bismark Curiel, who is in the show’s cast, by fucking a crew member. If that crew member was in the audience, they probably nervously shifted their eyes around before quoting subject-changing legend Goldie from Flavor of Love by saying, “Did everyone try the chicken? I thought the chicken was lovely.”
Janet Mock is a best-selling author and trans activist, and she became the first trans woman of color hired to write on a TV show when she was brought on to write, direct, and produce episodes of Pose. She’s been with the show since its first season. She’s also worked on two other Ryan Murphy shows: Hollywood and The Politician. And in 2019, she signed a three-year multi-million dollar with Netflix, giving them the first-look option on her TV and movie projects. And The Daily Beast says that before she took the mic at Pose’s premiere on Thursday night, the show’s creators, Ryan Murphy and Steven Canals, blew air kisses of love at her and the other women of the show. Ryan called Pose “the most important thing” he’s ever been a part of and Steven gave credit to the women of Pose, including Janet, by saying, “It is not lost on me that, as a cis man, my career and this story is built on the backs of Black and Afro-Latinx trans women who have told the best story of all.”
When it was Janet’s turn to speak, she made it clear that she wasn’t there to kiss ass and play the game. Janet praised the show for giving her a voice and for being the reason why she stands tall but added that the industry’s got a long way to go. Janet believes that the trans women of Pose, including herself, are undervalued and asked why she was only paid $40,000 an episode. And then Janet apologized to her fellow producer Our Lady J:
“When a talent asks you for a suite, you give them a suite because they need it,” she said. She singled out cast members Hailie Sahar, Dominique Jackson, Angelica Ross, and Mj Rodriguez, toasting their talent and shaming everyone who undervalued or underestimated them because they were pretty or inexperienced.
At her most passionate, she demanded to know why she wasn’t paid more for her work. “Why am I making $40,000 a motherfucking episode? Huh? Do you know who the fuck I am? Do you know what I fucking mean? Huh? I am angry. This is truth. This is motherfucking truth.”
She apologized to co-executive producer Our Lady J, saying, “I tried to shrink you to make myself bigger. Why couldn’t I just love you?”
While many are side-eying Janet since they’d be happy making $40,000 a fucking year, $40k-per-episode is apparently on the low-side for TV producers and writers. Throughout her 15-minute-long speech, Janet mentioned that she was making people uncomfortable and said that the truth usually does that. Page Six adds that Janet also threw a “fuck you” at Hollywood and said that the writing of Pose’s first two episodes wasn’t that great because they were written by cis dudes (including Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Steven Canals). Janet then had a moment with Ryan when she said that he brought in trans writers to help him out:
“Fuck Hollywood … Does this make you uncomfortable? It should. It should make you fucking shake in your motherfucking boots. This is speaking truth. This is what ‘Pose’ is.”
Mock next complained about the quality of the material from male writers on the show’s first two episodes, then addressed Murphy, saying that “you brought … girls in to help you.”
“Who brought the girls in?,” she asked him. “I did,” Murphy replied, “I wanted the girls to be there.”
That wasn’t the most awkward part of Janet’s speech. The most awkward part came when she asked her boyfriend, Angel Bismark Curiel, to stand up. Janet should’ve asked him to stand up so that everyone could get a better look at his piping hot “Little Lord Fauntleroy takes a break from his job at the lab to go to the skate park” look:
But nope, instead of doing that, Janet took everyone to an episode of Jerry Springer by admitting that she cheated on Angel with a crew member:
Bismark Curiel nervously stood up, and Mock said to the crowd, “Let me tell you something about love.”
“Today, I was gonna let [Angel] go,” she said. “I was gonna let you go, right, but what did I do? I fucked someone on the crew, right?”
At that revelation, one of the show’s guest stars could be heard gasping and asked, “What the hell is happening?”
“Angel, Angel. I’m not losing you. You hear me? You are fucking important to me,” Mock continued. “I don’t want to live in a house alone. I want you. You motherfucker. Right there. That’s who I want. I’m getting what’s mine.”
25-year-old Angel plays Lil Papi on Pose, and so another set of side-eyes probably landed on 38-year-old Janet Mock for dating a younger employee she has power over.
The Daily Beast says that Janet’s speech ended with her wondering if she just fucked her own career like it was a crew member:
The most moving moment came when Mock openly wondered if by saying all this she may have just ruined her career. “As I stand here, I’m shaking and quaking, afraid that what I said I cannot put back in.”
In the silence that followed, her trans sisters in the audience—including co-stars Dominique Jackson, Indya Moore, Angelica Ross, and Hailie Sahar—all started to speak up: “You are safe.” “We love you, Janet.” “Thank you for saying it.”
Two of Pose’s stars, Indya Moore and Angelica Ross, also applauded Janet Mock’s bravery on Twitter:
The honesty shared was necessary, and uncomfortable During a time where television networks benefited from the pandemic, through the uprisings, our value wasn't enough to even begin to debate or renegotiate. It is frustrating to be reminded how corps capitalize on our pain & life
— I.M (@IndyaMoore) April 30, 2021
My sister @janetmock left nothing unsaid. I love you girl ❤️ thank you for advocating for yourself and for #girlslikeus https://t.co/in4AFiefPD
— Angelica Defund The Police Ross (@angelicaross) April 30, 2021
The biggest question I have about all of this is: WHY ISN’T THERE VIDEO OF JANET MOCK’S FUCK-DEFICIENT SPEECH?! We live in a time when people record and upload every millisecond of their boring ass day and yet nobody at the Pose party pulled out their phone on the down-low to record this?! To quote that gasping audience member, “What the hell is happening?”
Pic: Wenn.com