Netflix’s reboot of Queer Eye has come to an end, but Karamo Brown isn’t done talking about the “toxicity” that caused him to take a step back from the Fab Five.
Earlier this year, Karamo made headlines by skipping the press run for the final season of the Emmy-award-winning makeover show. At the time, he publicly made some curious comments about his fellow castmates.
We later learned that his mom overheard them trash-talking him on a hot mic. What we didn’t know was just how much Karamo was dealing with before he hit that breaking point.
The Netflix star saw “tears” in his mother’s eyes after she overheard co-stars trash-talking Karamo Brown
In a new interview with People, Karamo went on a deep dive into what went down behind the scenes of Queer Eye. He said the show “helped a lot of people,” but in reality, it felt “toxic as hell in reality.”
According to Karamo, it didn’t start that way. He said the Fab Five had a “fun and flirty” vibe. However, that quickly changed when an anonymous person on set named filed a sexual harassment complaint against Karamo within the first few weeks of filming.
“It broke us,” he said of the group. “We all knew the divide between us.”
An investigation cleared Karamo of any wrongdoing. Still, an insider close to the cast said that Karamo’s relationships with Jonathan Van Ness and Tan France remained complicated. In this new interview, Karamo said he had to put up with a lot of bad behavior on set.
“Everyone would just say, ‘Well, that’s just that person,’ instead of saying, ‘This behavior does not fly in a professional environment,’” Karamo recalled. “It impacted me negatively, consistently.”
Years later, the dynamic reached a point of no return when Karamo’s mother overheard members of the Fab Five trash-talking him on a hot mic. Karamo said that he still doesn’t know what they said. He couldn’t bring himself to ask his mom. He already felt too embarrassed.
“The thing I know is the tears I saw in my mother’s eyes,” he recalled. “[She kept repeating], ‘I thought they were your friends.’ It made me realize I can no longer stay silent about how often I was made to feel like an outsider.”
Although Karamo is adamant about this behind-the-scenes mistreatment, the show’s production company refuted his claims. They refuse to let Karamo pull back the veil on the brand they’ve worked hard to create.
“We remain incredibly proud of Queer Eye’s lasting impact and the community the series helped build over more than 20 years,” ITV America and Scout Productions said in a statement.
Queer Eye is streaming on Netflix.
TELL US – WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON KARAMO’S ACCUSATIONS ABOUT QUEER EYE AND THE FAB FIVE? DOES IT CHANGE HOW YOU PERCEIVE THE SHOW?
