Karamo Brown reveals he was threatened by Queer Eye exec before exit

Karamo Brown isn’t holding back following his exit from Queer Eye.

Over the weekend, the culture expert on the Netflix reboot shared more insight on why he decided to leave the show after 10 seasons.

Speaking during a talk at ViewerCon in New Jersey, Brown, 45, recalled getting scolded by an executive on Queer Eye after making a guest on the show cry. 

‘On my show, season one, episode two, I had made the person cry. And it’s now become something part of… People know I’m going deep… get to the core of it. 

‘And there was a white executive that came into the trailer in front of like 25 people and said, “If you make one more motherf**king person cry, you are f**king fired! You are worthless! You ain’t got…don’t you f**king do it! You are f**king nothing!” 

‘And I can talk about this… because everyone has confirmed it. They said, “Yeah, we were there.” And he said, “If you do this one more time, I promise you, you are f**king never going to work in this town again.”

Karamo Brown alleged a ‘white executive’ on Queer Eye scolded him for making a guest cry on the show 

Brown was the show’s culture expert throughout it’s entire run before he abruptly revealed a dramatic rift with his co-stars

“And so I said, ‘Well, listen, I got to just do what I do.” If you think you have that much power to [not have] me work in town, then I’m not in the right business because you don’t ordain my step. So… I gotta do what I do.”

‘And I went back to set and I did it again. And the person cried and the person cried and they were pissed. And then the first season came out and the slogan was, which was supposed to always be – “Turning red states pink.”

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‘That was supposed to be the slogan of my show. Season two came out. After being told not to make people cry, after them trying to cut it out. Season two came out and the billboards all read, “We’re not crying, you are.” Ooooh! And then from season two on, every network conversation was, “How do we get this to be more emotional? How do we get to the heart?”‘

‘I said, “I’m just keep doing what I’m doing. Y’all can try to figure it out but I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing.” And we won Emmys off of this idea that we can get to the heart. 

‘Which is what they fought against every day publicly, not just privately, me not doing.

‘And so that breaks you down because… even though you’re trying to be strong, you have people trying to tell you to question yourself, telling you like, “Maybe you’re not doing it.” 

‘That’s what hurt so much because I knew that I was doing right, I knew I was being true but then I had people telling me that I was not worth it. 

‘And when you’re in the bubble of Hollywood, sometimes you could start – and this is the problem – I was helping everybody but I wasn’t helping myself.

Brown described the alleged drama during an appearance at ViewerCon in New Jersey over the weekend

Brown’s falling out with the Queer Eye team was unveiled after he dramatically pulled out of interviews with his colleagues, leaving them to explain his absence 

‘I was allowing myself to start to believe these things. I would start to believe that like, “oh you know what, I could be in the middle. I can’t be in the middle. No, they’re the stars.” I started to believe these things.’  

The Daily Mail has contacted representatives for Netflix for comment but has not yet heard back. 

A reboot of ‘Queer Eye For The Straight Guy,’ the show sought to makeover people from the inside out, with Brown serving as the program’s ‘culture expert.’ 

Yet, despite the feel-good camaraderie depicted on the show, Brown claims drama was brewing behind-the-scenes between himself and his colleagues. 

The rift exploded into the spotlight earlier this year when Brown abruptly pulled out of two interviews with his co-stars to promote the final season, forcing his colleagues to address his absence.  

Brown had been the show’s culture expert since the very beginning, serving as a sort of therapist to guests undergoing makeovers

In a statement given to CBS Mornings at the time, Brown said: ‘Though the show is ending, 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; which is why I can’t be there today.’

Brown has since said the falling-out was due in part to a conversation his castmates had about him behind his back, which his mother overheard.

‘The thing I know is the tears I saw in my mother’s eyes,’ he told People. ‘[She kept repeating], “I thought they were your friends.” It made me realize I can no longer stay silent about how often I was made to feel like an outsider.’

Throughout the turmoil, Brown was able to smile as he found love with controversial actor Jussie Smollett.

The couple recently went public with their relationship and were spotted packing on the PDA at LAX. 

‘We won Emmys off of this idea that we can get to the heart,’ Brown recalled; seen with his castmates at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards in 2024

Brown recently went public with his new boyfriend, controversial actor Jussie Smollett; seen in 2021

It’s a relationship Brown sees going the distance and one that he believes has the potential to lead to marriage.

In an interview with Reality with The King before their debut, Brown said he was ‘100 percent sure’ Smollett was the one as he gushed profusely about his new partner.

At the time, Brown did not reveal the idenтιтy of his boyfriend, saying they were waiting to go public in order to protect their relationship.

‘I believe this is going to be my forever person. I feel it every single day. You know we don’t have any arguments. Everything is just easy. And not saying that we don’t have discussions but everything is just easy. We just get each other. It’s constant laughter. It’s constant love. It’s just constant everything.’

Brown attended ViewerCon on Saturday, July 18, at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. He was joined by other stars including Joy Reid, Taye Diggs, Bevy Smith and Howard Charles of STARZ’s upcoming series Fightland.