Leave it to this diminutive 64-year-old actor to become arguably the biggest social media star during the coronavirus pandemic.
Leslie Jordan has more than 100 television and movie credits to his name, and up until the past month he's been known mostly for his roles in "Will & Grace" and "American Horror Story." He's now an Instagram darling thanks to his fun, quirky videos in which he gives insight into his quarantined life in Chattanooga, Tenn.
Some of the videos show him attempting to workout; some videos show him singing songs in hilarious fashion; in some videos he shares stories from the sets of shows and movies, many that include A-list actors.
On April 4, the 4′ 11″ actor even spoke of Tupac and suggests that he actually lived in the rapper's Los Angeles apartment. Why does he believe this: "Because I'm such a rebel and a thug and I just feel his presence."
On March 31, he dished about a prank that George Clooney played on him (George had the wardrobe department secretly take in Leslie's pants every day to convince him he was losing weight).
In many of his videos Leslie speaks of his less-than-savory days in Hollywood, but he's quick to point out that he's been sober for 22 years. He also doesn't hide from the fact that he's been arrested twice for DUI.
"Honey, they threw me in the pokey for my drinking," he said in his southern drawl. "It was awful being in the slammer. Everybody would tease you. They called me Little Bo Peep, and that was the guards."
He recalled giving his bunk to Robert Downey Jr. while locked up.
"I feel responsible for most of Robert Downey Jr's success," he joked. "Honey, I gave him my bed."
Further, Leslie's boredom in some of the videos is highly relatable.
Prior to the pandemic and the calls for social distancing, the openly gay actor had a few hundred thousand followers. He's amassing an army of new followers daily, and he now has 1.7 million.
In chatting with the Washington Post about his newfound Instagram fame, he said, "I'm not sure what happened. The shutdown, of course, we all had to hunker down and stay at home, and my number started—I would just notice, oh my gosh, I've got like 20,000 more. Who are these people? I had no idea. It's all of a sudden becoming popular, and how is this happening?"
When he hit one million followers, Leslie dressed for the occasion, donning a suit and sunglasses.
"Nothing's really changed. I'm just sitting here watching murder programs," he said after hitting the social media milestone, "but you may wonder why I've got sunglasses and a little suit on. It's because that's how people dress when they have one million Instagram followers."
He added in an Instagram video, "It's exhausting going viral!"