O.G. Queer Eye fashion expert and regular judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race, Carson Kressley, found himself forced to defend comments he made earlier this week that many took as shade towards the cast of the Netflix Queer Eye revival.
On Monday, at an event celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Emmys, Carson told Variety that he was glad to see Queer Eye 2.0 get an Emmy nomination, but maybe not in the nicest way. He said, “I’m thrilled that they’re nominated, but it was a little more groundbreaking back when we won an Emmy in 2004.” Shade or nah? Considering he also said at the Emmy event that he said he was lucky to work in today’s more “inclusive and diverse” television landscape, I don’t think he meant what he said as a dig.
Apparently, some other people (and pretty much every media outlet) thought Carson needed to untuck in the Interior Illusions lounge and ease back on the shade, but Carson insists he wasn’t taking a swipe at the new cast. In a statement issued to PEOPLE on Wednesday, he clarified what he meant:
“I loved being a part of the original Queer Eye, and I love the reboot. When I said the original was more groundbreaking it only meant that the original aired in an era when there was far less representation of gay people on television. We have come a long way and I am very proud to have passed the torch to the wonderful and talented new cast.”
Was his comment sassy? Sure, maybe a little, but this comes from a guy who makes snarky comments about drag queens for a living, so I give him a pass on this one. I also agree that television has come a long way regarding LGBTQIA+ representation. I hope, come Emmy night, that both Drag Race and Queer Eye take home trophies.
Photos: Getty, WENN
My alma mater has a giant portrait of Carson in the library. That is all.
I loved the original Queer Eye, but I remember in one ep, Carson made fun of one of the makeover guy’s girlfriend’s hair. In truth, it was very damaged looking, but I thought it was super inappropriate for him to say it out loud on the show on national television. I have always felt sympathy for that lady, because I have had some bad and damaged hair in my day
I get what he’s saying, and it’s good to reflect on how far we’ve come. I remember seeing queer eye when it aired and he’s right, it was unique at the time.
Side note: I hate what all four top four queens are wearing on the red carpet there. Come on Aquaria, come on Asia, come through with something better!
Hmm, well I’ve mentioned this before, but when I used to know one of the original QE guys well and the fact they were capable of remaining upright and vaguely coherent amazed me.
(Not Ted, Ted is great, and I never heard of him doing anything harder than a Cabernet.)
Agree with Carson on this one.
I can’t watch the video at work, but what’s his deal with drag queens????
I agree with him, it was a more groundbreaking accomplishment back then.Shows with LGBTQ cast have it easier than they did when the original show was on.I was just saying something similar to a person who tried to compare Aretha Franklin’s career to these young singers like Beyonce.I said Aretha’s accomplishments are even greater,more impressive when you like at the time she was ruling the charts as a black women in the 1960s.
Disagree. I call shade.
He’s not wrong. Is that shade?
Carson is 100% correct about the times changing. I think he was being gracious and honest about the new show. If I recall, Carson never had any problem speaking his mind, so if he wanted to talk shit about the new Straight Guys, he would have.