“Queer Eye’s Karamo Brown has sparked fears in fans after he pulled out of the show’s promo this week amid emotional abuse claims. ”, — write: www.dailymail.co.uk
Best known for his role as the ‘culture and lifestyle extraordinaire’ on Netflix’s Queer Eye reboot, Karamo, 45, cancelled multiple morning show appearances this week claiming he ‘felt mentally and emotionally abused for years’.
Sending a video message into CBS Mornings, host Gayle King read Karamo’s statement which said: ‘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 and peace from people or a world who seek to destroy it; which is why I can’t be there today.’
And the star has also been taking to Instagram with a various inspirational clips with seemingly pointed messages.
His co-stars Antoni Porowski, Jeremiah Brent, Tan France and Jonathan Van Ness appeared to be surprise by his absence as they failed to shed light on any reason behind it.
Yet there are perhaps signs in Karamo’s personal life that all is not well after he took to Instagram earlier this week, telling his followers that ‘sorry without action is just another form of manipulation’.
While he didn’t refer directly to the emotional abuse claims he said: ‘If someone tells you that they hurt them your response needs to be “What’s the process of repair?” Let them tell you what they need and then go do it.
‘Stop letting people manipulate you with their sorries’.
In a recent post on Thursday he asked his followers: ‘What was your storm that actually ended up clearing your path?’ before sharing inspiration messages.
They read: ‘Not all storms come to disrupt your life, some come to clear your path.’ and ‘Satan don’t know God is on the job gathering up the squad, doing something so Holy’.
In another clip he spoke about his experience being a people pleaser as he asked: ‘What is your yes costing you?’
He continued: ‘I used to be a people pleaser, I would always feel like I would need to be there, to do things to extend for people.
‘I would ask myself “what is my yes costing me? Is it costing me my time? My peace? My energy?’
‘Once I started understanding what my yes’s were costing me, my life got so much better.’
Taking to the comments, fans shared their support for the star as they penned: ‘love you diva!!! glad you’re prioritizing your mental health rn’; ‘Proud of you Karamo! Do what you gotta do boo’.
Another wrote: ‘Just wanted to say how much I appreciate you. The amount of joy, peace, compassion and healing you have brought to others is incredible. I hope this year brings you those things and more. Take care of yourself. You deserve it nothing but the best.’
Karmaro also gave an emotional monologue in a piece to camera to mark the last season of Queer Eye.
Describing his time on the show as his ‘greatest joy’ and a ‘dream come true’ the star gushed over his gratitude of this experience.
He said: ‘This show has given me so much hope for the impact that you can make when you continue to walk in your truth and just show up.
‘The world can be a better place if we all just are positive, kind, loving and do the work to support each other.
‘The blessing of what Queer Eye has done for me is it has allowed me to be someone who can go around this world and make sure that people’s stories are heard and I am so thankful for that because I have a clear purpose for the rest of my life.
‘Anyone who comes in my path you are going to feel heard and seen.’
Meanwhile Karamo’s four co-stars were filmed looking somber and clutching at one another as Gayle King quizzed them on their co-star’s absence earlier this week and sources have now shared with TMZ the alleged origins of the rift.
It reportedly began when Karamo’s mother visited the season 10 set of Queer Eye over the summer.
Insiders told the site that she was given headphones and overheard Karamo’s co-stars Antoni, Jonathan, and Tan speaking poorly of her son when he wasn’t present.
The topics of conversation allegedly included criticism of some of Karamo’s lifestyle choices.
Karamo’s mother later relayed what she had heard to her son – sparking an instant feud between Karamo and the co-stars in question, according to the report.
Aside from Jeremiah Brent, his friendships with Antoni, Jonathan, and Tan have deteriorated as a result of the hot mic moment.
Karamo pulled out of two planned appearances on Tuesday, beginning with an interview with his co-stars on CBS Mornings.
‘We call it a “Fab Five” but one of the Fab Five is not here,’ an uncharacteristically somber Gayle King began as she chatted with the other stars on CBS Mornings Tuesday.
‘We received word just – less than an hour ago that Karamo Brown is not going to be joining us today.’
The CBS Mornings host went on to read a portion of Brown’s statement, saying that the reality star ‘apologized for not attending’ and thanked the show’s audience.
‘His assistant also says he’s worried about being bullied,’ she added. ‘I’m very sorry to hear this – that he apparently feels this way. What do you have to say?’ she asked his co-stars.
The host quickly clarified that the cast were ‘as surprised as we are’ by the cancellation.
Antoni, with his hand on Tan’s lap, replied: ‘Yeah – surprised is a fair understatement.’
Not offering much detail, Antoni added: ‘I will say, 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.’
‘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,’ he added, as France sat silent with a slight smirk.
Jeremiah, audibly emotional, chimed in to insist that his ‘experience with this group has been transformative.’ He maintained the show – rebooted from the 2000’s Queer Eye For the Straight Guy – is about ‘highlighting the best of humanity.’
‘And nobody needs that more than us – this country right now.’
After disclaiming that she ‘did not want to negate how Karamo feels’, the host went on to ask if the cast had anything to say directly to their costar.
Hair stylist Jonathan, who was previously accused of having ‘rage issues’, began: ‘I think one thing that I was so honored to learn from Kamaro during my time – just like he said in that package – we have to meet people where they’re at. And he has taught people to center what they need.
‘And I’m actually really proud of him. Center what you need, do the things you need to do to take care of you – I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel like that sometimes. So, I think it’s really beautiful. I think we do need to center what’s best for us sometimes, and my hat off to him for doing that.
The situation caused a similar stir when the group joined Today with Jenna & Sheinelle, where Karamo added new accusations to his statement while sending in a video as well.
Karamo said he ‘has felt mentally and emotionally abused for years’, but did not say by whom.
He made the decision to not appear on the program ‘to protect himself and his peace’, Jones read.
The cast member added in the video: ‘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’s why I’m here at home and not there. But continue to watch the show,’ he said, before thanking the crew and Netflix executives.
Its not the first time Karamo has caused concern with fans after he left them in shock with his changing appearance on Andy Cohen’s show Watch What Happens Live! back in November.
Fans were quick to comment on how Karamo looked a far cry from the star they were used to seeing on TV as they speculated over his cheeks looking larger and whether he had had fillers injected.
Some people even brutally compared the Queer Eye star to the character Jigsaw from the 2017 horror film.
They wrote: ‘Karamos cheekbones r not single,’; ‘Karamo….your cheeks friend?’; ‘Good lord, the cheeks,’;
‘He ain’t single I see two ppl underneath them cheek bones,’; ‘That injector did him dirty. Lol,’;
‘Chile Karamo step Back from the fillers,’; ‘He’s such handsome man, I hope he stops with the fillers soon,’;
‘Looking like JIGSAW TO RASSSS,’; ‘He looking like jigsaw, dissolve some of the cheek fillers baby.’
Karamo’s choice to withdraw from promo for the final season demonstrates him putting his own mental health first and following his own boundaries.
And back in 2020 Karamo made the difficult decision to split from his fiancé Ian Jordan after 10 years together.
While they were due to wed during Covid, it was postponed due to the pandemic and during this time the star realised a separation was necessary after a recent re-evaluation of their busy relationship.
Appearing on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in 2020 he explained: ‘We were distracted by so much — with the kids, and our careers — that during that time, I had to really say, “How is our communication? How is other parts of our lives? Are we growing in the same place?”
‘You know, we’re not 20 anymore, so it wasn’t just, “Oh, I’m not going to text you anymore” — it was like, we have a family and a home. How do we separate this? And it was hard. We went to virtual counseling, we did a lot of things.
‘But eventually I was like, this is a moment where I need to decide, is my happiness important? And once I made that decision, I said, you know, we are going to have to break up.’