Billy Porter dusted off his now-iconic velvet tuxedo dress for a forthcoming appearance on Sesame Street .

The popular childrens program confirmed the news on social media Thursday, and posted photos of Porter on set. Some of the images showed the Pose and Kinky Boots star in the Christian Siriano-designed ensemble he wore to the 2019 Academy Awards . Others showed him grinning happily alongside Elmo and other characters.

An iconic day with an iconic person, the tweet read .

Porter was quick to share his enthusiasm, too, writing , Yall, talk about iconic... I was tickled to meet Elmo and the gang.

Given Porters status as a gender-fluid fashion icon, response to the Sesame Street news was sharply divided.

Some saw the actor and singers appearance as part of the shows longtime efforts toward inclusivity. If I had seen someone like you on TV when I was that age, coming out would have been so much easier and happier, one person wrote in the comments . Another added : This 62-year-old grandma loves it! Billy rocks whatever hes wearing with confidence.

Others, however, felt differently. After Sesame Street announced Porters appearance, right-wing news outlet LifeSite News launched a petition calling for the shows producers to scrap the episode.

Parents are fed up with the hyper-sexualization of their children, and they expect childrens programming to be a neutral zone, read the petition, which called Porter a drag queen and had more than 9,800 signatures as of Friday afternoon.