It’s a crisp fall evening in Soho, but Jeremy Pope is dressed for summer in a sensual, back-baring halter top and oversized Persol sunglasses. “It’s a backless fall,” says the 31-year-old actor, who shot to fame on hit shows like Pose and Hollywood before breaking out in last year’s A24 drama The Inspection. “That’s where we’re at today.”
Given the summer Pope just had, it’s hard to blame him for wanting to extend the season as long as possible. A dedicated member of the Bey Hive, the Emmy and Tony nominee spent a good chunk of the year going to as many Renaissance World Tour shows as his schedule would allow. “There’s the initial shock viewing,” Pope explains, “and then there’s the second viewing where you can really receive the queen.”
While Pope got to rub elbows with the likes of Jay-Z and Kris Jenner at various tour stops, the most memorable show he attended was the one he went to with his mom. “The last time we saw Beyoncé [together] was when I was 16, and she took me for my birthday,” he says. “I was at the show where she fell on them stairs! It was giving drama… That’s a YouTube staple.”
Watching concerts with your mom? Just one of the many things Jeremy Pope Strongly Endorses these days.
Scaring yourself with style
Pope is known for his revealing red carpet looks, from his almost-shirtless moment at last summer’s Loewe show to tonight’s dangerously low-cut Fendi halter. “Me and my stylist, we always have a rule that if I’m not nervous or scared when we’re going to an event or a carpet that maybe we didn’t challenge ourselves enough,” he says. “And it’s not necessarily that we’re looking for the gag effect.”
Instead, Pope explains, he dresses to express himself and radiate confidence, after a childhood spent feeling uncomfortable in his own body. “My dad was a pastor and a professional bodybuilder,” he says. “And those spaces really occupy extreme ideas of masculinity. Being a skinny little kid who was into the arts, it was always trying to find where I felt confidence in my boyhood, into manhood. Now, when it comes to fashion, I love using it as a tool to just express different energies—the yin and the yang, the mother and the father, the masculine and the feminine.”
Apple Music’s Spa playlist
Given his hectic travel schedule—jetting off to Paris Fashion Week one day, flying back to New York for a Broadway performance the next—Pope has developed several methods for creating comfort on the go. One of his go-to moves is spacing out to Apple Music’s Spa playlist. “It’s giving me spa as I’m in the air,” he says, laughing. “I don’t know what it is about just sleeping with the spa music… I need the massage part, but it gets me in the zone, you know what I mean?”
The Wiz
Another thing Pope loves to do while flying? Rewatching Sidney Lumet’s classic 1978 film The Wiz, starring Diana Ross and Michael Jackson. “It’s the Black people version of The Wizard of Oz,” he says. “It’s now on Netflix. There’s something about that movie—give it to Ms. Ross and Mr. Jackson. It’s just this iconic, feel-good, nostalgic movie. It has this Afro Harlem, New York feel.”
Persol shades
The night we meet, Pope is the guest of honor at the launch of Persol’s newest collection. Given the Italian eyewear label’s long-held association with iconic leading men—from Paul Newman to Steve McQueen—its alignment with a Black, queer actor like Pope seems like a clear salute to Hollywood’s more diverse future. “That’s where we’re at right now,” Pope says. “I love that they were down to call me.”
Raymond Ang
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