Queer Eye’s Karamo Brown shut down his Twitter account after being hammered by critics who are upset that he is defending former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer. The two are cast as contestants on the upcoming season of Dancing with the Stars.
In this red carpet interview conducted after Wednesday’s cast reveal, Karamo boasts that he and Spicer had been “chatting all day,” adding that “he’s a good guy, a really sweet guy.”
Here’s Karamo Brown calling Sean Spicer “a good guy; a really sweet guy” cause what’s morality, really? pic.twitter.com/WQVgfVVkFc
— ?van Ross Katz (@evanrosskatz) August 21, 2019
Fans did not react well to Karamo buddying up with a former member of the Trump administration=-an administration that they believe has worked to diminish the rights of LGBTQ members. And they let him know exactly how they felt on Twitter. Subsequently, Karamo reacted to his critics by blocking them, which angered them even more. Soon tweets were were flying from fans furious over being blocked.
After what he’s said about @seanspicer and the fact that he’s blocked folks for calling him out on it, it’s an honor and a privilege to be blocked by @Karamo Brown.
If you’re considering getting an “emotional or mental makeover” from this piece of work, reconsider. pic.twitter.com/gC1Afi6cjd
— Noah Michelson (@noahmichelson) August 23, 2019
By Friday, it was too much. Karamo deactivated his twitter account. The account remains unavailable as of Saturday evening.
The controversy began immediately after the DWTS cast reveal on Wednesday’s Good Morning America. First, host Tom Bergeron expressed displeasure on social media. Producers assured Tom that there would be no controversial political casting on the coming season. But then they went ahead and casted Spicer–a total political lightning rod.
Sean Spicer Responds to DWTS Backlash, Hopes to Bring People Together
At the same time, Karamo, a cast member of the inspirational LGBTQ centered realiy show Queer Eye, dealt with fans upset that he didn’t say something.
“First, I have no say who is on the cast and didn’t find out till this morning that he is on!” Karamo initially responded to the controversy. “But I’ll tell you this… I’m excited to sit down w/ him and engage in a respectful conversations. Only way things get better is if we try to educate those who have different POV than us.”
In another tweet, Karamo also wrote that he “can’t stand people” who post things “just to flame the fire and get a reaction. We fight harder than your a** ever has for people of color and members of the LGBTQIA community” after someone else called him out.
Meanwhile, On Thursday, fellow Queer Eye star Bobby Berk defended Karamo in a series of since-deleted tweets.
“As if being on @DancingABC was the stars wasn’t already one of the most grueling things anyone can put themselves through, celebs now have to deal with the producers and casting planting political land mines to blow you up. I’m very saddened by what my cast mate @Karamo is having to deal with today.”
“We’ve been trained over and over not to talk smack about anyone in an [interview] and to try and be as nice as possible,” he continued. “When being backed in a corner about voicing his opinions about @seanspicer Karamo’s media training kicked in as we are trained to do.”
Berk also lambasted ABC for the position they put Brown and his DWTS competitors in by including Spicer.
“It’s frankly a really [sh****] situation to be put in and @ABCNetwork should be ashamed of themselves for having to put the cast in the position of having to take a political side on a f****** dance competition.”
And Bobby Berk has deleted all but one of the tweets he posted in a thread defending his Queer Eye costar Karamo Brown. pic.twitter.com/xwLpEWbtVh
— Michael Blackmon (@blackmon) August 23, 2019