I’m currently one-quarter of the way through my Queer Eye season two binge. After watching the first two episodes, I’m thinking I’m going to need to stock up on tissues. The Fab Five are still working their magic in Atlanta, bettering the lives of eight more “heroes,” including a woman and a trans man. In a recent interview with NME, the guys were asked if these new heroes meant that the show was covering new ground. Here’s what they had to say.
Antoni: “Everybody needs our help; it’s not just straight white dudes. So we’ve certainly expanded on that conversation.”
Karamo: “What I’m most proud of, being in this cast with these guys, is that we don’t mind having the hard conversations with ourselves and with others. Two years ago I don’t think you would have seen this conversation about transgender people on television, certainly not in the very positive, real way. Tan and I are opposite ends of the spectrum. I have many trans friends and am exposed to the trans community. Then Tan is another gay man who has none. I think it’s very powerful to see that that’s ok, that experience is a spectrum.”
Tan: “I think that’s part of the beauty of our show. We represent so many versions of gay men. The original show, as much as I love, only pushed one version, which was the stereotype.”
Karamo: “I have to relate to season one. The episode with the cop, who had never seen what it was like to be a person of color and interact with a police officer. We get messages all the time from people who say, ‘Now I understand what it feels like for my friends of color’. I think the same thing will happen with Skylar.”
The “hero” on the first episode of season two was the delightful Miss Tammye, who, between surviving breast cancer, trying to encourage her church to welcome and embrace the LGBTQ+ community and accepting her gay son Myles, is truly an angel on earth. When asked about her experience on the show, she told Refinery29 that it was “life changing”, adding:
It goes a long way into spreading the message of unconditional love and changing people’s hearts. The community definitely changed. The whole experience opened a lot of people’s eyes to what unconditional love truly looks like.
Episode two of the season found Karamo helping a vegetarian Walmart employee clean up his act and stage an elaborate proposal worthy of a rom-com. In a case of life imitating art, Karamo surprised his longtime boyfriend, Ian Jordan, by popping the question during a surprise birthday party last month.
Back in April, Karamo joined actors including Tim Daly and Mädchen Amick to meet with Karen Pence, wife of Vice President Mike Pence, to discuss the finding of arts programs in the nation’s schools. They actually just met with Mrs. Pence’s chief of staff because, of course they did. While Karamo thought the experience was a positive one, the other members of the Fab Five felt differently, as evidenced in a video posted to Vulture. Jonathan voiced his opinion of Mrs. Pence, stating, “She doesn’t like you girl. She don’t like us.” (Sadly, he’s probably right.) He also joked that the VP’s wife is the show’s “biggest fan” and that she watches every night. He continued,
“Her and Dad like to watch it every night in their modesty outfits, but they watch it completely separated because it’s improper to look at each other face to face while you watch gay men.”
And that is why I adore Jonathan. I don’t know about you, but I am loving the fact that, with the arrival of season two, the guys are seemingly everywhere. They sat down with Buzzfeed to create one of their “Which Queer Eye guy is your soulmate?” quizzes. I took it and, of course, got Jonathan – most likely because of our mutual love for Shangela from RuPaul’s Drag Race. (Fun fact: Karamo credits Ru for helping him come out to his friends and family.) And, I’ll leave you with this last video, as I could write so much more. Here are the guys giving the guitarist for The Late Late Show with James Corden the full Queer Eye transformation. I don’t think I could love these guys any more. Is it too early to begin lobbying for season three?
Photos: Getty Images, Instagram, WENN.com
I love them so much! I don’t know how much I needed them in my life! Pure joy, especially Jonathan, my favorite. He is precious.
I love these guys so much. Season 1 was amazing and I love each of them ridiculously. I also have a crazy crush on Antoni! He’s a dream boat. They all are.
Also loved tracking them, whilst they were here in Australia. Their visit to Yass, was brilliant!
https://youtu.be/iAIuqEO-u0M
Antoni is hot. He looks like John Mayer mixed with Stefan from the Vampire Diaries.
And a nice hint of Matt Bomer! Swoon.
I love them so much! And Tammye made my heart grow three sizes.
This show may be my favorite TV show right now.The positivity and the love are so pure and so beautiful it makes my heart grow three sizes.
That doesn’t stop me from having a slew of impure thoughts about Antoni though.
After watching the episode, I find Karamo’s quote troubling. Tan makes a really wonderful effort to better understand the trans community after admitting a profound ignorance on the issue. I understand that Karamo is talking about “exposure” to the trans community (a poorly chosen word in my opinion) but to make it sound like the spectrum of understanding about trans issues in the gay community is beautiful and acceptable is bizarre. Is it tan’s fault that he knows no trans people? No. Is it ok? Not really. I don’t understand Karamo’s dual goal of exoticism and normalization. Not everything has to be “powerful” or a “spectrum.” The gay community (and allies!) should understand and help alleviate the plight of their more marginalized trans brothers and sisters. Full stop. If you don’t know anything about the trans community, I hope this episode doesn’t teach you that that’s ok. I cant decide if Karamo is a motivational speaker who is disingenuous or just an overly optimistic guy who papers over the deep fissures within the LGBTQA+ community. Either way, he’s my least fave of the Fab 5.
I adore these guys and loved Miss Tammye! The proposal episode was a bit too much and felt too staged. I hope that’s not the direction the show is going, I loved the authentic feel of season 1.
I was thrilled to see OurSong on Miss Tammye’s episode! I have several friends in OurSong, one of whom got a lot of “face time” in the episode. They’re a wonderful chorus! My friends tell me her son did join the choir for a while, but unfortunately distance was an issue.
So, Carson Kressley and Ted Allen gave everyone the identical gay stereotype?
All of the originals were different from one another. I don’t remember them getting as much into their back stories as the new crew does, which would have made them even more individualized, but they certainly weren’t a flat gay stereotype across the board. What a rude, disrespectful quote.
He must not have watched the original. Ted was my favorite!
I binge watched this on Friday and it was exactly what my heart needed to survive this week! I was laying on the bed and my husband came up and was wondering why I was crying. Not sad crying but just tears and I was explaining Miss Tammye to him and he climbed up on the bed and watched the transgender episode with me. This is what the world needs. These 5 guys are incredible and they are changing hearts and minds – but only those who have hearts and minds.
Love them all <3 and I wanna be adopted by each and every one of them. 🙂
Just started watching Season 1. I love them and we ALL need these guys in our lives. Great job filling big shoes from the OG.
I bawled at episode one! Just wait til Skyler. That’s a super emotional one, from the very first minute.
I grew up on the original Queer Eye and found most of the full episodes are on YouTube! Less emotional substance, but damn they’re funny.
I love this show, but the “culture” guy is the one that falls flat for me. He’s soooo corny about everything. I love Johnathan and Tan though!
Now I’m looking forward to more NAILED IT!! That show is hilarious!