Billy Porter's health struggles explored as Broadway star exits Cabaret amid sepsis diagnosis

Billy Porter faced another health setback as reports confirmed that he battled a “serious case of sepsis.” Outlets, including the Los Angeles Times, shared the news, noting that the condition forced the Broadway star to pause his latest work. This was not the first time the performer dealt with a serious health issue. In 2021, Billy Porter revealed to The Hollywood Reporter that he had been living with HIV for 14 years. The interview marked the first time he discussed the diagnosis publicly.

“This is what HIV-positive looks like now. I’m going to die from something else before I die from that,” Porter shared.

At the time, Billy Porter explained that being a gay Black man and growing up in a Pentecostal household made the stigma around HIV even heavier. He admitted he had kept the truth from his mother and even from his castmates on FX’s Pose, despite portraying Pray Tell, a character who was also HIV-positive.

“HIV-positive, where I come from, growing up in the Pentecostal church with a very religious family, is God’s punishment,” he explained.

Broadway’s Cabaret revival cut short following Billy Porter’s health struggles:

Broadway’s latest revival of Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club reached an unexpected conclusion. The production announced it would close Sept. 21, nearly a month ahead of its planned finale, after star Billy Porter was sidelined by a “serious case of sepsis,” the Los Angeles Times reported.

“It is with a heavy heart that we have made the painful decision to end our Broadway run,”

said producer Adam Speers.

“On behalf of all the producers, we’re so honored to have been able to bring this version of John Kander, Fred Ebb, and Joe Masteroff’s important masterpiece, ‘Cabaret,’ to New York and to have opened the doors to our own Kit Kat Club for the year and a half we have been here,” he added.

The revival premiered in April 2024, headlined by Eddie Redmayne and Gayle Rankin. Their successors included Adam Lambert with Auli’i Cravalho, and Orville Peck with Eva Noblezada. Porter and Marisha Wallace joined in July as the Emcee and Sally Bowles, respectively, and had been expected to lead the company until Oct. 19.

Adam Speers expanded on his tribute for Billy Porter, sharing that,

“Billy was an extraordinary ‘Emcee,’ bringing his signature passion and remarkable talent, we wish Billy a speedy recovery, and I look forward to working with him again in the very near future.”

By its final curtain call, Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club will have staged 18 previews and 592 performances. The final stretch will feature longtime alternates Marty Lauter and David Merino alternating as the Emcee.

Billy Porter discusses historic casting and the urgency of Cabaret on Broadway:

Billy Porter often described his art as a channel for truth. That belief shaped his 2021 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, where he reflected on coming forward about his HIV diagnosis. Quarantining during the Covid-19 pandemic, which Porter said finally gave him the luxury to think,

"created a safe space for me to stop and reflect and deal with the trauma in my life,” he said.

“The truth is the healing. And I hope this frees me. I hope this frees me so that I can experience real, unadulterated joy, so that I can experience peace, so that I can experience intimacy” Porter added.

That same honesty carried into his Broadway work. In August 2025, speaking to Frank DiLella for Broadway Direct, Billy Porter and co-star Marisha Wallace shared their thoughts on leading Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club. Asked about being part of the first trio of Black principals, Porter responded,

“It feels necessary and current [to be the first full-time Black Emcee]. This show is about what happens when we let authoritarianism take over. And my art is my passion and it’s my calling and purpose and ministry and resistance. And to be able to do this show right now in the times we’re in, to tell this story, it’s humbling and everything I’ve ever wanted to do.”

When asked whether the Emcee had always been a dream role, Billy Porter recalled how the opportunity once slipped away.

“Yes. I asked to audition for the revival in the ’90s and they told me no. They said, ‘That’s not the story we’re telling.’ So, I did some research, and I found a book called Destined to Witness: Growing Up Black in Nazi Germany, and I sent it to the entire creative team, signed ‘We were there — we’re always there.’ Now all these years later I get to play this part. My mother used to say, ‘God’s delay is not denial.’ It’s very special right now that I’m doing this,” he explained.