Jonathan Van Ness says there’s one Queer Eye makeover he regrets
Jonathan Van Ness says he regrets one particular Queer Eye makeover. (Getty)
Queer Eye star Jonathan Van Ness revealed that that producers pressured him into a makeover that he now regrets.
The grooming guru admitted that producers had to “twist his arm” when it came to one of the show’s makeovers.
Season two of the Netflix phenomenon ended with the Fab Five making over Ted Terry, the mayor or Clarkston, Georgia.
Towards the end of the episode, Van Ness shaved off Terry’s “Resistance Beard”, which he had been growing in protest since Donald Trump’s 2016 election.
A year after the episode was released, Van Ness revealed that he “never wanted to take that beard off”.
“I’ll be honest,” he told BuzzFeed News. “I was very pro-beard. I was very pro–Resistance Beard. I definitely got my little arm twisted on that.”
After the interview was released, Terry weighed in on Twitter, writing: “Viva la resistance beard.”
The Democrat had previously hinted that his beard had been shaved off for visual impact, explaining that the “show really wanted a transformation”.
“I was happy to abide by a very stark contrast from a beard that I had been growing out for almost a year to being clean shaven,” he told City Lab in 2018.
“I won’t grow out my beard to full mountain man again. Jonathan said if the beard comes back, use beard oil and keep it moisturised. So I’m taking his advice.”
Jonathan Van Ness reveals Queer Eye protests.
Earlier this year Van Ness revisited another episode of Queer Eye. Season four opened with a makeover for Van Ness’ high school arts teacher Cathy Dooley.
Speaking to The Guardian, Van Ness said that a local pastor organised protests against the Fab Five’s visit.
“He sent a letter to the newspaper that blasted the normalisation of LGBTQ culture, and said we should not be rolling out the welcome mats at a public school,” he explained.
Queer Eye recently returned to Netflix with the four-part special, We’re In Japan, the first episodes to be released since Van Ness came out as a “member of the beautiful HIV-positive community”.
In an interview with the New York Times, Van Ness said that he’d agonised about making his status public since Queer Eye debuted in February 2018.
“It was really difficult because I was like ‘Do I want to talk about my status?’” he said.
“And then I was like, ‘The Trump administration has done everything they can do to have the stigmatisation of the LGBT community thrive around me.’
“I do feel the need to talk about this.”
The hairdresser and comedian has been applauded for his honesty by fans and LGBT+ activists including Pose actor Billy Porter.
