Tan France, one of the “Fab Five” cast members of Netflix’s Queer Eye, took to Instagram on Friday to address the recent controversy surrounding his co-star Bobby Berk’s exit from the show.
Earlier this week, a Rolling Stone exposé alleged that France had campaigned to replace Berk with his personal friend Jeremiah Brent. Netflix announced last week that Brent would be replacing Berk as the show’s resident interior designer, following Berk’s shocking announcement that he wouldn’t be returning for Queer Eye’s ninth season.
“Good morning. Yes, I’ve heard what’s going on, and I just want to address one point, real quick,” France began his video.
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“My former colleague getting fired had nothing to do with me trying to get my friend hired,” the stylist said. “Netflix [and] the production companies did a full-on casting. 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 they have the job? Uh-huh, I really am. I think they’re gonna be incredible on the show. But I didn’t get them hired by getting rid of somebody else.”
He continued: “And this all started because of a comment on a gossip blog that just got reposted and reposted and then it’s almost become gospel. So, from the horse’s mouth, I’m telling you that’s not at all how it went down and that’s all I’ll say on the matter. If you need to dig deeper, if you still don’t believe me, so be it, but that’s it.”
Back in January, Berk told Vanity Fair that he’d made the decision to leave Queer Eye in the fall of 2023, amid the WGA and SAG strikes. He also alluded to some conflict with France, saying they “had a moment,” but adding, “Tan and I—we will be fine.”
“There was a situation, and that’s between Tan and I, and it has nothing to do with the show,” Berk told Vanity Fair. “It was something personal that had been brewing—and nothing romantic, just to clarify that. ... Should I have unfollowed Tan [on Instagram]? No. Maybe I should have just muted him. But that day, I was angry, and that’s the end of it.”
While France was happy to set the record straight on Friday about what happened with Berk, he remained noticeably mum on the rumors surrounding another one of his Queer Eye co-stars, Jonathan Van Ness. The hairdresser, known for his positive and progressive public image, was described as a “monster” with “rage issues” by sources who spoke to Rolling Stone.
“There were times when we couldn’t even shoot scenes with certain members of the Fab Five together because it got so bad,” one production member told the magazine.
Van Ness has yet to publicly respond to the report.
