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The first night of the Democratic National Convention closed out with a performance by Billy Porter and rock star Stephen Stills that garnered mixed reactions from viewers.
The “Pose” star teamed up with Stills to perform what appeared to be a pre-recorded cover of Buffalo Springfield’s 1966 protest anthem “For What It’s Worth,” which Stills originally wrote and recorded with Springfield.
The video shows Porter singing and dancing to the song against the backdrop of the American flag while images of recent protests played in the background.
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According to Rolling Stone, the track was originally inspired by a Sunset Strip protest over a club curfew, which resulted in a clash with police. However, the song continues to hold relevance today as people take to the streets to protest and argue over issues of race and equality.
“As the lyrics tumbled out, I quickly realized that my little song spoke to much more than simply a confrontation between a gathering of young people paying a last visit to a favorite music bar about to be demolished and a rather excessive number of LAPD riot police intent on dispersing the overflow crowd that had spilled into the street,” Stills told the outlet. “I purposefully resisted the urge to rewrite or expand upon my theme and let the metaphors speak for themselves. Fortunately, succeeding generations have found something in it that touches them personally or alludes to their own sense of foreboding during tumultuous times.”
Reactions to the performance were mixed on social media, with many praising Porter's performance and its relevance to today's issues and others taking to social media to lambaste it.
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“The power I heard in my youth from this song has echoed through to today. Thankyou to @theebilly porter and Steven Stills!” one user wrote.
“Nice version. Love Stills. Great anthem for our times,” another positive user wrote.
Billy Porter performed the closing song of the 2020 Democratic National Convention. (Rick Rowell via Getty Images)
“Billy Porter is so freakin fabulous i just can’t even!! This duet with him and Stills hit the ball clear out of the park. Prob should have been the closing act on the final night because I can’t imagine anything much better than this!” a third user wrote.
Meanwhile, a less than enthusiastic user called it "a God awful performance."
“I've lost count of the number of times this year I've seen a tweet that I thought was satire, but was an actual, serious tweet by the Left,” someone else wrote.
“I'm sorry - I'm all in for Biden/Harris, but this song (version) was really cheesy,” another user wrote.
One person who was pleased with the overall outcome of the cover was Stills, who praised Porter for adapting his song for the modern-day.
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“For many years no one tried to ‘make it theirs’ as covers are supposed to do,” the artist told Rolling Stone. “That an artist of Billy’s caliber has chosen to add his flourish to my song from so many years ago is totally in keeping with what I intended.”
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