Karamo Brown took the Queer Eye cast by surprise Tuesday when he opted not to show up for the cast’s appearance on Today with Jenna & Sheinelle.
The cast was set to talk about the upcoming 10th and final season when Sheinelle Jones read an email she received earlier that morning.
“We received an email from Karamo’s assistant this morning, which said in part, ‘Karamo has felt mentally and emotionally abused for years, and he’s been advised by his therapist to protect himself and his peace by not attending,’” Jones said, according to TV Insider.
Brown also sent a video message to Jones and Jenna Bush Hager, congratulating them on their show and thanking the fans for watching Queer Eye for 10 seasons.
“This new season is going to be amazing,” he said in the video. “You’re going to love every minute of it.”
“And just like the themes of this season, I’m modeling what I believe is most important, which I want to remind you all: love yourselves and protect yourselves. That is why I’m here at home and not there,” he added. “But continue to watch the show. The crew worked on it and did an amazing job. I want to shout out the crew. I want to shout out to all the fans. I want to shout out to the executives from Netflix. Thank you for having me for 10 seasons.”
A similar occurrence happened on CBS Mornings with Gayle King, who also read a statement by Brown about how he hopes fans remember “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.”
Cast responds with mixed emotions
Queer Eye cast member Antoni Porowski told King, Jones and Bush Hager that he is “surprised” by Brown’s absence.
Porowski told the Today hosts, “I think definitely a little surprised, but at the same time, we’re so sorry that he’s not here. We fully support, I think as a collective unit, him taking care of himself. And to echo what he’s saying, we’re here to honor the legacy of a decade, which is so wild to think about, and all of the heroes that we helped, and to just really put a spotlight on the incredible heroes we have this season in [Washington] D.C.”
“‘Surprised’ is a fair understatement,” Porowski said to King, according to Variety.
“Our Queer Eye family—we’ve been doing this for almost a decade, which is pretty wild to believe—and families are complicated. And we’re definitely not excluded from that. But I think two things can exist at the same time, and while that is definitely true, we’re also here to showcase these incredible heroes that we have and really honor the legacy of this past decade of our lives and all these wonderful heroes that we’ve had the blessing of getting to meet and have conversations with.”
Tan France and Jonathan Van Ness also praised Brown’s contributions to the show, with Van Ness telling the Today hosts, “When you’re on a show and you’re just relentlessly working, it is so difficult to center what you need and how to take care of yourself. And he’s been teaching people how to take care of themselves on Queer Eye for almost 10 years. And I’m actually so proud of him for centering what he needs to do and taking care of himself. It’s not easy to do, that’s not an easy statement to make, and I’m really proud of him for doing that.”
Karamo unfollows co-stars after absence
Brown also decided to unfollow several of his co-stars. According to an eagle-eyed Redditor, Brown quit following Van Ness, Porowski and France. He currently still follows former co-host Bobby Berk and his replacement, Jeremiah Brent.
