Dancing with the Stars contestant Karamo Brown was attacked on Twitter after defending former White House press secretary Sean Spicer, who will appear on the show as one of his fellow contestants next season.
In an interview with Access Hollywood, the Netflix’s Queer Eye co-host spoke glowingly of Spicer after the former White House official was blasted for being cast on the hit ABC show.
“Sean Spicer and I have been talking. Yeah, like, literally I was most excited to meet him because, like, the thing is — people would look at us and think that we’re polar opposites, but I’m a big believer that if you can talk to someone and meet in the middle, you can learn about each other and help each other both grow,” said Karamo Brown to Access Hollywood.
“And, so, we have been chatting all day today, like, he’s a good guy, a really sweet guy,” added Brown. “Karamo from Queer Eye saying Sean Spicer, nice guy. I know, right?”
Not everyone, however, was pleased to hear that Brown had been getting along with Sean Spicer.
“Karamo what? This man is complicit in, and continues to defend all the actions of the Trump adminstration[sic]. You can’t just say he’s a good guy now until he’s been held accountable,” tweeted video producer Ashly Perez.
“Get a fucking grip. There is no friendship with people who enable fascism,” said author Roxane Gay.
“A good guy who said nothing when kids were being ripped away from their mamas to be thrown into cages,” tweeted writer Tony Choi, who tweeted nothing regarding “kids in cages” while it happened under the Obama administration.
“I’m actually disappointed in @Karamo for lending his celebrity to this,” said another user on Twitter, which elicited a response from Brown.
“First, I have no say who is on the cast and didn’t find out till this morning that he is on!” responded Brown in a tweet on Wednesday. “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.”
Nonetheless, Brown continued to face backlash on Twitter for speaking positively of Spicer.
“Okay, here’s my truth…” began Brown in a tweet on Thursday, responding again to the criticism. “I’m a trained social worker and my first instinct is always to sit down and have a conversation.”
“But I understand how my comments could lead people to believe that I don’t understand the gravity of the situation,” added Brown, in an apparent attempt to ease the tensions. “The personal is political.”
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, on Parler at @alana, and on Instagram.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.