The farewell tour for the tenth and final season of Netflix’s “Queer Eye” was supposed to be a victory lap. Instead, the celebratory moment turned sour when cast member Karamo Brown abruptly pulled out of two major press appearances at the last minute. Brown’s sudden withdrawal from the press tour and his accusations of a toxic environment are another exhausting example of the “Black sheep effect” that Black people endure in white-dominated spaces, and it’s time we call out this vicious pattern.
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On Tuesday, Karamo Brown, Tan France, Jonathan Van Ness, Antoni Porowski, and Jeremiah Brent (who joined the cast on season nine) were all scheduled to appear on “CBS Mornings.” As the cameras panned to the crew, viewers instantly realized the group was a member short. “As you see, we call it Fab Five, but one of the Fab Five is not here,” Gayle King said during the appearance. “We received word less than an hour ago that Karamo Brown is not going to be joining us.”
While all four remaining castmates held hands, King read a statement by Brown’s assistant addressing his choice to prioritize his mental health:
“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,” King shared from his statement.
King further highlighted the assistant’s concerns about the reality star “being bullied.” The remaining cast members appeared shocked but attempted to show a united front, with Antoni Porowski adding, “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.”
But on social media, the audience wasn’t buying the “complicated family” excuse. One X user said the quiet part out loud, “Any time a coworker uses the term ‘FAMILY’ to describe the work environment, several side eyes must be dropped. They are some of the most toxic. Karamo had the right idea.”
The conversation was just as real on Threads, with one user posting, “White people are exhausting. A Black man is worried about being bullied, and a white man responds with ‘well MY experience has been great!’ lmfao TYPICAL.”
Well, are they wrong? We don’t think so.
From the classroom to the executive C-suite, it is a common trend that our Black human emotions are mistreated and dismissed by white counterparts, resulting in emotional turmoil. The microaggressions. The in-house bullying. The calculated ways to isolate you to experience “quiet firing.”
We are constantly being forced to become “God’s strongest soldiers” just to have a seat at the table, while those forget that we are the ones who built it. Unfortunately, Black people in reality television are forced to navigate the same experience, most times publicly.
As a fan of reality television, there is a certain level of enjoyment in innocent catfights. But when the “Black Sheep” effect happens, we have to call out the bullsh*t. We’ve seen this same wash, rinse, and repeat a time or two.
Eboni K. Williams was the first Black housewife to star on Bravo’s “The Real Housewives of New York” in its 13-year history, only to face racist comments. How did she respond? She filed a formal complaint against Ramona Singer, eventually derailing a cast reunion from taking place.
On “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” Garcelle Beauvais appeared as the first Black cast member of the franchise. After the actress faced constant microaggressions and isolation, she walked away from the series entirely, stating she felt like she was “on an island” by herself.
Let’s not forget how former “Bachelorette” Rachel Lindsay famously addressed racism as an “ongoing issue” on the show, often citing how she was edited to fit the “Angry Black Woman” trope, only to find herself abandoned by production.
We must mention the chaos surrounding “Big Brother” contestant Jackson Michie. During the season, Michie was called out for nominating three people of color for elimination on the very first night. Once again, this is another moment when we are in the room, white people do whatever it takes to get us out of there fast.
Even before the most recent “Queer Eye” incident, Brown was a cast member of MTV’s “The Real World: Philadelphia.” He returned to the reunion by setting boundaries, only for his efforts to be rejected by his white castmate, Mallory. She weaponized her tears, became defensive, and painted Brown as the “aggressor,” only for him to simply speak his truth.
We see it all the time with Black cast members in predominantly white shows, and we all know why they rarely last. Black intelligence and our dominant presence are continuously minimized as “over reactive,” “aggressive,” and the latest term, “reverse racism.” The lack of accountability and the deflecting behavior are more than “drama”; they’re just plain exhausting.
So, what are we going to do when narcissists try to get a rise out of us? Brown made it plain in this TikTok video, responding with one powerful word: “Nothing.” You don’t owe your presence to places where you aren’t given peace.
Straight From 
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