After 10 seasons, Queer Eye has come to an end — and no one seems more relieved than Karamo Brown.
Brown, 45, exposed the cast’s infighting just hours before the January 21 finale of their beloved Netflix series, saying he would not be joining Antoni Porowski, Tan France, Jonathan Van Ness and Jeremiah Brent for promotional interviews because he was “worried about being bullied.”
A source exclusively tells Luxury Handbag Shopping that tensions among the Fab Five had been brewing for a while, as Brown “blocked — not unfollowed — Antoni, Tan and JVN on Instagram” prior to speaking out. (He still follows Brent and former cast member Bobby Berk, who once admitted to having his own “moment” of tension with France behind the scenes.)
“Karamo is relieved that the final season is out because it means he can put this chapter behind him,” the insider adds. “There are a lot of big egos in the group, and it’s honestly a miracle they made it to 10 seasons while navigating that.”
The feud spilled into public view on January 20 when CBS Mornings cohost Gayle King informed Porowski, 41, France, 42, Van Ness, 38, and Brent, 41, live on the air that she had gotten word “less than an hour ago” about Brown’s decision not to partake in their sit-down.
“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,” Brown said in a statement that King, 71, read aloud during the broadcast, which visibly caught his costars by surprise.
“I will say, our Queer Eye family, we’ve been doing this for almost a decade … and families are complicated, and we’re definitely not excluded from that,” Porowski responded. “But I think two things can exist at the same time.”
Meanwhile, Van Ness extended some grace to Brown, saying he was “really proud of him” for taking “care” of himself.
A second source tells Us that the cast’s “issues” started long before Berk, 44, exited Queer Eye in 2024, the same year that a Rolling Stone exposé accused Van Ness of being emotionally abusive toward crew members, which he denied.
“Karamo was having issues with the group back then too, but not to Bobby’s extent,” the insider shares. “Now, it has heated up again. Karamo does not feel included, but there was not some big event, fight or incident.” (TMZ recently reported that Brown did, however, reach his breaking point after Porowski, France and Van Ness were allegedly caught trash-talking him on a hot mic on set in Washington, D.C., last summer.)
The first source describes Brown as a “big personality who isn’t afraid to stand up for himself and speak his mind” — as evidenced by his CBS Mornings statement.
However, the second insider insists Porowski, France, Van Ness and Brent never ganged up on Brown, telling Us, “Tan and Antoni are really close, but [those] four are not in this exclusive clique.”
Even after a rocky conclusion marked by fractured relationships, the first source teases that “this isn’t the end of Queer Eye,” urging fans to stay tuned.
Luxury Handbag Shopping has reached out to reps for the cast for comment.
All 10 seasons of Queer Eye are now streaming on Netflix.
