Original 'Queer Eye' Star 'Deeply Resonated With' Karamo Brown's On-Set Toxicity Claims

Queer Eye for the Straight Guy star Jai Rodriguez came to his successor, Karamo Brown's defense after the Netflix alum broke his silence about the on-set drama.

"My successor, Karamo, who I love and adore, just did a big interview that I deeply resonated with," Rodriguez shared via TikTok on Friday, June 5. "I am just making this video in support of him, and all Queer Eye folk who have ever been a Fab 5 person in the U.S. because I think it's important to share. Unless you worked on the show as a Fab 5 member, you'll never know the actual story."

He explained that in the nearly 25 years since the original Bravo series premiered, "none of us have ever written a tell-all or told our stories as honestly as Karamo did." Rodriguez went on to say that he always believed he would be the one to break his silence.

"I feel like I could be the most honest and have nothing to lose," he said. "But I still am so thankful that Karamo opened that door of honesty."

Rodriguez was one of the original Fab 5 alongside Ted Allen, Kyan Douglas, Thom Filicia, and Carson Kressley. The series ran for five seasons and won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Reality Program in 2004.

"I have the utmost respect for Karamo, sharing his truth. And I'm sure in the next months, years, whatever, more people will share tales of their journeys. And some may shock you, and some may not," Rodriguez continued. "But, I think what is undeniable and what I love that Karamo emphasized was, at the end of the day, cast members came together to make sure that the hero, the person we were making over, in the 100 episodes that we did in the original cast, and the 10 seasons the new cast did, that all the folks that we made over, were seen, respected, and elevated, and loved, and cared for, and it took a family to do that. And families can be dysfunctional."

@jairodriguezworld

Honestly unless you were one of us y'all never really know what happened bts. Much love and respect for @Karamo and his journey sharing his truth. #queereye

♬ original sound - Jai Rodriguez

For his part, Karamo - who exited the Netflix remake for all 10 seasons - opened up about toxicity on set in a new interview with People.

"Everyone would just say, 'Well, that's just that person,' instead of saying, 'This behavior does not fly in a professional environment,'" he said. "It impacted me negatively, consistently."

Brown added, "I can no longer stay silent about how often I was made to feel like an outsider."

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This story was originally published June 5, 2026 at 10:31 AM.