A group alone.
Photo: CBS Mornings via YouTube
The rumored iciest friend group in show business just got even chillier. While promoting Queer Eye’s tenth and final season on Netflix, the cast stopped by CBS Mornings on January 20, the day before the season dropped. Things did not go as planned. “As you see, we call it Fab Five, but one of the Fab Five is not here,” Gayle King said right off the bat. “We received word less than an hour ago that Karamo Brown is not going to be joining us.” The Frowning Four sat in silence as she spoke.
Brown, as fans know, has been the culture expert on the show for the duration of the reboot, making his absence in this final round of interviews with his onscreen friends huge. To explain his self-ejection from the Fab Five, Brown sent over a statement less than an hour before the planned appearance, which King read live on-air: “I hope everyone remembers the main theme I have tried to teach them over the past decade, which is to focus on and to protect their mental health/peace from people or a world who seek to destroy it, which is why I can’t be there today.” King also revealed to the audience that his assistant said Brown was worried about “being bullied.”
On the day leading up to the season-ten release, Brown didn’t just skip meeting King. The other members of the cast went on Today With Jenna & Sheinelle, also without Brown, and Today received a similar message explaining his absence. “Karamo has felt mentally and emotionally abused for years,” Sheinelle Jones quoted. “He has been advised by his therapist to protect himself and his peace by not attending.” He did, however, send a video to the show. “Just like the themes of this season, I’m modeling what I believe is most important,” Brown said in the video. “Love yourselves and protect yourselves. That’s why I’m here at home and not there.” He then gave a shout-out to the crew, the fans, and the executives at Netflix, but he did not name any of his fellow cast members.
The bullying claim seemed to surprise Brown’s castmates, but it’s not the first time they’ve dealt with intragroup drama going public. Previously, there was a behind-the-scenes scandal involving Bobby Berk, the show’s interior-design expert, who was replaced by Jeremiah Brent after season eight. “Tan and I had a moment,” Berk confirmed in an interview with Vanity Fair. “There was a situation, and that’s between Tan [France] and I, and it has nothing to do with the show. It was something personal that had been brewing — and nothing romantic, just to clarify that.” Brown seemed to stay close with Berk after he left, making his allegiance clear on Berk’s departure Instagram post. “I’m about to be at Netflix’s door & e-mails telling them you can’t leave!” Brown wrote. “Who is coming with me?” Rolling Stone has also reported allegations that grooming expert Jonathan Van Ness was a “monster” to work with. Ahead of their scheduled appearances on the morning shows, it appears that Brown unfollowed France, Porowski, and Van Ness on Instagram. However, he still follows both the new guy, Brent, and the departed Berk.
During today’s talk-show appearances, it was not immediately clear whom Brown and his team were calling bullies, but his castmates were quick to defend themselves. “Surprised is a fair understatement,” food expert Antoni Porowski said on CBS Mornings. “I will say, our Queer Eye family, we’ve been doing this almost a decade, which is pretty wild to believe. And families are complicated, and we’re definitely not excluded from that.”
As he spoke on CBS, Porowski held hands with fashion expert France, while Van Ness and Brent held hands separately. “Two things can exist at the same time,” Porowski continued. “While that is definitely true, we’re also here to showcase these incredible heroes that we have.” Brent added, through near tears, “My experience in the group has been transformative. To see the way that they move through the world, the way that they have taught me so much about life and friendship and love, I have felt safe and supported by the people up here.”
King then asked if anyone in the group had something to say to Brown. “I would say that one thing I have been so honored to learn from Karamo in my time is, just like he said in that package, we have to meet people where they’re at,” Van Ness said. “He has taught people to center what they need, and I’m actually really proud of him. Center what you need; do the things you need to do to take care of you.”
Speaking on Today, France added that he thought the legacy of the show was still intact. “We got to bring people together in what I think is the most beautiful way,” he said. “I’m so proud of what we’ve achieved, including Karamo. What we’ve all done together, the work that he has done and the rest of us, has been profound.”
The next day, on January 21, Porowski, Van Ness, France, and Brent all posted tributes to the show on Instagram in honor of the season-ten premiere. Brent chose to tag all his castmates; Porowski and JVN didn’t tag anybody; France tagged everyone but Brown. In Porowski’s Instagram comment section, someone claimed that the BTS drama made it hard for them to watch the show because it made the cast’s bond seem inauthentic. “A lot of us come from complicated families and still have jobs and positive things we’re passionate about,” Porowski replied. “Authenticity is about being honest about the complexities of life and knowing two things can exist at the same time.” But what “complexity of life” is actually going on here? Hopefully, one of them will soon be honest and clear about that.
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