Queer Eye grooming expert and icon of fabulosity Jonathan Van Ness has appeared in the first episode of Buzzfeed‘s new online talk show, PROFILE, to discuss a whooole bunch of things, including but not limited to the backlash directed at the most recent season’s fifth episode, Sky’s The Limit.
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In case you haven’t binged the second season yet (go; I’ll wait), Ep 5 features the show’s very first trans man, a guy called Skyler. While it’s just as touching and beautiful as all the other QE episodes, some people voiced criticism of the way Skyler was presented, particularly because the ep opened with shots of his top surgery.
Watched the trans man episode of queer eye. Thoughts:
1. Skyler is queer queer queer and the show was not ready for that
2. Wtf framing trans-ness all around surgery 👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻— ricky (@houglande) July 18, 2018
People also called out the show for being, as host Audie Cornish put it, “too 101“.
Van Ness responded with his signature blend of thoughtfulness and compassion, saying:
Skyler is such an incredible person, he’s such an incredible man. So there’s that. And then our showrunner Jennifer Lane is one of the most incredible creators. I just am so blown away by her every day and so honoured that I get to work with her. I think that she treated his story with so much respect. I didn’t see it as sensationalising.
As for the episode being too bogged down in trans basics:
I guess that’s the thing that I would say that I disagree with. Netflix is in 190 countries, I think it’s like 110 million people. And first of all, coastal America and middle America are two very different things. So to think that we have all moved past this, or this is like 101, I don’t think, even in America, I think there are a lot of people who very much need a 101 moment.
And there’s a lot of people in so many countries where this conversation is not even on the radar at all. So I don’t think that it was reductive. I think that his story is one that needs to be shared.
Watch the whole thing below, and fall even more in love with the magnificently coiffed gem.
