There was definitely some tension on the set of Queer Eye over the years. Tan France, the fashion guru of the group, shared a tense exchange he had with one of his costars back in the day. He didn’t reveal the name of the co-star. However, he did say that they were very frustrated with him at the time and even called him a “traitor.”
The Netflix star opened up about the “heated argument”
Tan appeared on an episode of Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s podcast Dinner on Me for a chat. The former Queer Eye star spoke about his experiences on the show, body image issues, and more over spicy pomodoro.
When Jesse asked him about Queer Eye, Tan recalled the time he got into it with a colleague early on in the show. The argument was over his personal coming-out journey.
“I’ve never said this before, and I won’t say who it was, but during filming that first season, somebody on the cast was quite frustrated with me when they found out that I wasn’t out to my family,” Tan shared (at the 20:18 mark). He previously revealed that he came out to his family days before Queer Eye premiered on Netflix in 2018.
He added that his co-star essentially said he was “kind of a traitor to us on the show if you’re not out.” Tan understood that. But he also felt his experience was different as a Pakistani Muslim.
“We got into a heated argument, and I was saying, ‘You have no idea what my experience is as a queer Muslim, a queer brown person, a queer immigrant,” Tan explained. “It’s all well and good, you saying this. But you will never understand what it’s like to be a person of color trying to come out when you’ve had nobody ever say those words in your community before.’”
Fortunately, Tan revealed that his family accepted it and understood. Since then, they have become a huge part of his life and of his husband’s and children’s lives.
Looks like there was already drama on the set of the rebooted Fab Five show as far back as Season 1. Fans know Bobby Berk eventually left the show due to scheduling commitments. He also admitted to having a falling out with Tan. And in the last season, Karamo Brown also admitted to a toxic work environment and cast rifts.
Queer Eye is streaming on Netflix.
TELL US – WHAT DO YOU THINK OF TAN’S EXPERIENCE? WHO DO YOU THINK HE ARGUED WITH?
