Bobby Berk 'Queer Eye' Exit and Tan France Drama, Explained

Photo-Illustration: Vulture. Photos: Frazer Harrison / Getty Images, Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Tan France is denying that he gave the Queer Eye lineup a makeover. Last week, Netflix announced that Jeremiah Brent — who is also France’s friend — would be replacing Bobby Berk as the show’s new interior designer. Rolling Stone later published a report claiming that France (with alleged support from Antoni Porowski) had campaigned for the Berk-Brent switch, with one source describing what happened as “mean-girl antics.” On Friday, France took to Instagram to respond via video. “I just want to address one point real quick,” he said. “My former colleague getting fired had nothing to do with me trying to get my friend hired.” France denied swaying Netflix’s decision, noting that Brent was chosen as the best person for the job after a full casting process. “I didn’t get [Brent] hired by getting rid of somebody else,” he concluded.

Queer Eye fans have been constructing theories of behind-the-scenes beef ever since news broke last fall that Berk would be leaving the Fab Five (which also includes France, Karamo Brown, Jonathan Van Ness, and Porowski) after the upcoming eighth season of the reality show. Naturally, the speculation didn’t stop when Berk unfollowed co-star Tan France on Instagram. “Tan and I had a moment,” Berk confirmed in a January interview with Vanity Fair. “There was a situation, and that’s between Tan and I, and it has nothing to do with the show. It was something personal that had been brewing — and nothing romantic, just to clarify that.”

Looking back, Berk said he shouldn’t have unfollowed France, and maybe just needed to mute his account. “But that day, I was angry, and that’s the end of it,” Berk said. “We became like siblings—and siblings are always going to fight.” He noted that he and France hugged and congratulated each other at the Emmy Awards earlier this month, which he described as “the first bandage on that wound.” In six months to a year, he said he could see himself and France “at each other’s house being good.”

So why not keep doing Queer Eye, then? According to Berk, the Fab Five had all mentally prepared to leave after their contract expired in September 2022. But with content running low due to last year’s Hollywood strikes, Netflix offered the Fab Five a new deal for four more cycles. Berk declined; he’d already started planning multiple other projects. He thought his co-stars were going to follow suit, but right before the deadline, he said they all decided to sign. “And with only one of us not coming back, Netflix felt [it] could recast one person,” Berk explained. Though he admitted to being mad “for a second,” he vaguely said that “each one of us had our reasons why we did what we did.”

This post has been updated.

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