The Queer Eyecast drama isn’t coming to an end just yet. And now Tan France has something to say about everything that’s been going down.
It’s been a tough few months for fans of the Fab Five, from Bobby Berk’s sudden departure from the show to rumors of tension behind the scenes. A new grenade was lobbed this week when Rolling Stone published an article interviewing multiple crew members who claimed Jonathan Van Ness is a nightmare to work with. Several also pointed the finger at France for allegedly campaigning to have Berk replaced with his friend, Jeremiah Brent, who was recently announced as the show’s new interior designer.
The latter wasn’t a brand new rumor, but it’s one France finally decided to refute in an Instagram reel on Friday morning that ultimately only added more fuel to the fire.
“My former colleague getting fired had nothing to do with me trying to get my friend hired,” he said, the first time a member of the cast has publicly claimed Berk was fired. Berk previously attributed his leaving the show to a personal decision to move on to other things after their original contracts were up.
“Netflix and the production companies did a full on casting,” France continued. "I didn’t put my friend up for the job. They ended up getting it because they were the best person for the job. Am I so happy that they have the job? Uh huh, I really am. I really think they’re going to be incredible on the show. But I didn’t get them hired by getting rid of somebody else.”
He also suggested that the rumor started “because of a comment on a gossip blog that just got reposted and reposted, and then it’s almost become gospel.”
However, it’s unclear if he’s suggesting the three anonymous sources interviewed by Rolling Stone were also misled by a gossip blog comment, or if he is outright ignoring those specific claims.
Berk has not directly responded to France’s remarks, although he did subsequently post a gif of Michelle Obama saying “Our motto is: ‘When they go low we go high!’”
