[3][4] After 10 years, he began feeling constricted by fronting a boy band and wanted to explore arts less traditionally masculine: "The things that I was interested in didn’t necessarily align with my family’s or society’s idea of what it meant to be a man.
[3] Burnside emceed a benefit concert, duetting with Pose co-stars Billy Porter and Ryan Jamaal Swain to celebrate the Pose season 1 finale on July 23, 2018, raising money for GLSEN,[7][9][4][10] and talking about his coming out story and speaking with former Vibe editor-in-chief Emil Wilbekin about the importance of safe spaces for LGBTQ people.
[10] In July 2021, in the same period the final episode of Pose was aired, it was released the musical single Heaven featuring the British singer Daley, written in February 2021 as a celebration of LGBTQ love.
I think manhood as a construct is very dangerous and has caused a lot of pain and destruction in our world"[4] and recognises the importance of Pose for representing LGBTQ people of color.
[13] He has described influences including bell hooks, James Baldwin, Eckhart Tolle and Marianne Williamson,[4] as well as gospel music being a part of going to church that spoke to him.