‘The View’ Fans Shocked to See Surprise Billy Porter Performance on Martin Luther King Jr. Day Episode

On a special Martin Luther King Jr. Day episode of The View, actor Billy Porter gave a rousing performance of John Lennon’s “Imagine.” His appearance followed a performance by two children’s choirs and was a complete surprise to the show’s viewing audience. Naturally, they took to Twitter to sing the praises of both the Pose star and the choir members.

“Billy Porter and these two children’s choirs, is the content that I’m here for,” tweeted one fan, while another wrote “Why am I tearing up watching [The View]? Looking at all those beautiful young little faces singing their little hearts out!!! Oh LAWD and BILLY PORTER!!! LAWD take me NOW!!!” A third said simply that the back-to-back musical numbers “are everything today,” along with the hashtag for “I’m not crying, you’re crying.”

Prior to the performance, host Whoopi Goldberg spoke with Harrison Fribush, a seventh-grader at Krieger Schechter Day School, a Jewish school in Baltimore. Fribush initially reached out to the private catholic school, Cardinal Shehan School, to collaborate on a project together, with The View being their national TV debut.

Speaking to JMore Living, the 13-year-old Fribush said simply that “music matters and music education makes an impact on our lives.” He added that he “wanted to make a video to raise money because I wanted to show I could make a difference in our city.”

Kenyatta Hardison, Cardinal Shehan’s choir director, commended the project. “It’s amazing how we’re different and so much alike, in so many ways. We’re different in our culture or the way we do things. … [But] we all love music, sing the same words, move with the same music. The world would be such a better place if we could all do this. Start with two schools at a time to work together. The evil things going on in this world would diminish.”

It makes sense that Porter’s appearance would be kept under wraps, as he is known for his ability to make an entrance. The notoriously flamboyant performer most recently turned heads with his out-of-this-world hat at the American Music Awards last November, which paired well with his sported an all-white ensemble featuring a white shirt, tie, knee-length coat and wide-legged pants.

The month prior to that, Porter had a brief role in the star-studded Saturday Night Live cold open that brought together Lin-Manuel Miranda and Woody Harrelson to lampoon last fall’s Democratic Debate.