Karamo Brown allegedly fell out with three of his Queer Eye costars after a hot mic incident during filming that later spilled into public view.
A source tells TMZ that while the cast was shooting their 10th season in Washington, D.C. last summer, Brown brought his mother to set and was given production headphones.
During a moment when Brown stepped away, Antoni Porowski, Tan France, and Jonathan Van Ness were allegedly overheard speaking negatively about him, including criticizing unspecified lifestyle choices. Brown's mother supposedly heard the entire conversation and later relayed it to her son.
The alleged incident created an immediate rift and left Brown on the outs with those three.
As noted by TMZ, Jeremiah Brent seems to be the only castmate he still follows on Instagram.
The tension became visible on Tuesday (Jan. 20) when Brown was a no-show for Season 10 press day appearances as the rest of the cast did morning show interviews.
On Today, co-host Sheinelle Jones read from a statement from Brown’s assistant, which said, "Karamo has felt mentally and emotionally abused for years and he's been advised by his therapist to protect himself and his peace by not attending."
Brown later appeared via video message on Today, telling viewers, "Just like the themes of the season, I am modeling what I believe is most important, which I want to remind you all ... Love yourselves and protect yourselves. That's why l'm here at home and not there."
Porowski addressed the situation on CBS Mornings, saying, "Surprised is a fair understatement. I will say, our Queer Eye family, we've been doing this for almost a decade, which is pretty wild to believe, and families are complicated and we're definitely not excluded from that."
He added, “But I think two things can exist at the same time. And while that is definitely true, we're also here to showcase these incredible heroes we have and really honor the legacy of this past decade of our lives and all these wonderful heroes that we've had the blessing of getting to meet and have conversations with.”
Queer Eye’s 10th and final season is streaming now on Netflix.