Original Queer Eye For The Straight Guy star Jai Rodriguez is responding to Karamo Brown’s claims the environment on the hit reality TV series was toxic.
“Hey ya’ll, it’s Jai here from the original Queer Eye, or maybe 20-some odd years ago you remember it as being the Queer Eye For The Straight Guy,” Rodriguez, 46, shared in a video uploaded to TikTok on Friday, June 5. “It was the first major show on Bravo and my successor, Karamo, who I love and adore, just did a big interview that I deeply resonated with. Deeply resonated with.”
In a tell-all interview with People published on Tuesday, June 2, Karamo — who starred on the revamped Queer Eye for 10 seasons alongside Jonathan Van Ness, Tan France, Antoni Porowski, Bobby Berk and later Jeremiah Brent — claimed the show’s working environment was filled with alleged bullying and poor behavior.
“Everyone would just say, ‘Well, that’s just that person,’ instead of saying, ‘This behavior does not fly in a professional environment,’” Brown claimed. “It impacted me negatively, consistently.”
He continued, “I was depressed. It felt shameful because I was teaching people that they could be better, but in my own life, I was trapped.”
On Friday, Rodriguez told his followers that he was making a video “in support of” Karamo and “all Queer Eye folk who have ever been a Fab Five person” in the United States.
Honestly unless you were one of us y’all never really know what happened bts. Much love and respect for @Karamo and his journey sharing his truth. #queereye
“I think it’s important to share that unless you worked on the show as a Fab Five member, you’ll never know the actual story and, to date, none of us have ever written a tell-all or told our stories as honestly as Karamo did,” he added. “It just hasn’t happened. And, um, I have the utmost respect for Karamo sharing his truth. I’m sure in the next month, years, whatever, more people will share tales of their journeys and some may shock you, and some may not.”
He continued, “But I think what is undeniable and what I love that Karamo emphasized is that at the end of the day, cast members came together to make sure that the hero, the person we were making over — in the 100 episodes that we did in the original cast, and the 10 seasons the new cast did — that all the folks that we made over were seen, respected and elevated and loved and cared for. And it really took a family to do that, and families can be dysfunctional.”
Rodriguez starred in all five seasons of the OG Queer Eye For The Straight Guy as the culture expert alongside Ted Allen, Kyan Douglas, Thom Filicia and Carson Kressley.
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Rodriguez went on to share on Friday that even a TV family isn’t immune from the dysfunction of a typical family dynamic.
“I really did always assume that I would be the one to write a tell-all of the experience, because I feel like I can be the most honest and have nothing to lose and [am] fair and metered,” he added. “But I’m still so thankful that Karamo opened up that door of honesty because families are messy, and if it’s a TV family you don’t get a pass — you are still gonna be messy.”
He concluded, “Messy is also a big word, but I’m just so proud of him. So proud of him. I felt… yeah. Also bitch, did you change your number because I texted you. Let me know.”
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