Queer Eye’s Karamo Brown takes huge swipe at gay dating apps
(Photo by Rich Fury/Getty Images for Netflix)
Hot on the heels of the Queer Eye reboot, the show’s star Karamo Brown has bemoaned the state of gay dating apps.
Insisting that as a community, “we’re regressing,” the 37-year-old American TV personality has explained that gay dating apps are bringing LGBT+ groups further apart, rather than uniting them.
Karamo revealed that he has never been on a dating app but is all the better for it, as he also believes they over-sexualise the community.
“I think dating apps are keeping us apart,” the Queer Eye star told Gay Times.
Karamo Brown has hit out against gay dating apps (Getty Images)
Queer Eye’s culture expert explained: “When you talk about the apps that we have, they usually encourage, ‘Send me a photo,’ which is very vague. My photo has nothing to do with the person I am, the dreams I have, the family I want to build, the family I’m from. We’re in a culture now where, if I don’t like you, I don’t have to get to know you, I just have to swipe left. How horrible is that?”
Karamo’s message? “Get off the apps and go to the club. Meet people. It’s much more fun”.
The star is enjoying a heightened profile now that the new eight-episode Queer Eye series has landed.
Queer Eye – which originally ran on Bravo from 2003 – 2007 – features five gay men who each have their own area of expertise as they work to solve the problems of one straight man per episode.
Jonathan Van Ness, Bobby Berk, Antoni Porowski, Tan France, and Karamo Brown of Netflix’s “Queer Eye” Season 1 (Getty Images)
Male grooming expert Jonathan Van Ness, interior designer Bobby Berk, food aficionado Antoni Porowski, fashion pro Tan France, and culture guy Karamo Brown are the five go-to experts for the first season of Netflix’s Queer Eye.
In one episode, a man named AJ is semi-closeted but wants to come out properly, while in another the team help a straight man win back his wife.
The show has been widely praised since its return for going further than the stereotypes the show used to promote, and finding a format with heart and soul.
But back to the issues affecting the LGBT+ community and Karamo is furious about the lack of our community’s history displayed in academic history books.
“It’s despicable that you can go through a textbook and not see any of our accomplishments,” he said.
“I think about my parents in the sixties when they were in school and there was no-one of colour in the history books. What does that do to your self-esteem? What does that do to your mental health, not seeing yourself and not being valued?
Queer Eye, which originally had the title Queer Eye For The Straight Guy, gained a cult status in the Naughties for its sassy commentary on male issues.
All eight episodes of Queer Eye series 1 are available on Netflix
