‘Queer Eye’ Rift Between Karamo Brown & Castmates Started After Hot Mic Moment (Report)

“Queer Eye” has been an Emmy-winning feel-good hit all about love, tolerance, and acceptance, but now it appears there is a fracture among the Fab Five.

Karamo Brown, the show’s culture expert, opted to skip multiple morning show appearances promoting the show’s final season, which drops on Netflix today. 

In a statement to “Today,” Brown said he “has felt mentally and emotionally abused for years,” and that a therapist recommended he “protect himself and his peace by not attending.” 

A source tells TMZ that trouble started on set with a hot mic incident.

The co-stars were reportedly filming in Washington, D.C., and Karamo had stepped away from the group. His mom, however, was on set observing that day and had a pair of production headphones. 

His mom allegedly heard his co-stars Antoni Porowski, Tan France and Jonathan Van Ness making negative comments about Karamo’s lifestyle choices. She shared their comments with Brown.

The insider says the situation immediately created a rift among the co-stars. Jeremiah Brent, who replaced Bobby Berk after Season 8, does not appear to be part of the feud.

Karamo stopped following Antoni, Tan and Jonathan on social media, but he does still follow Jeremiah and Bobby.

Brown first dropped out of his “CBS Mornings” appearance. Gayle King read a statement from Karamo about wanting to protect his mental health, adding that his assistant said he was “worried about being bullied."

When she asked the cast about his decision, Antoni said, “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. 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.”  

Jonathan added, “I’m actually really proud of him, center what you need, do the things you need to do to take care of you. I would be lying if I didn’t feel like that sometimes and so I think it is really beautiful and I think we do need to center what is best for us sometimes and my hat off to him for doing that today.”

During the cast’s “Today” appearance, Antoni spoke of Karamo’s absence again, “I think, definitely a little surprised, but at the same time, look, we’re so sorry that he’s not here. We fully support, I think as a collective unit, him taking care of himself and I think to echo what he’s saying, we’re here to honor the legacy of a decade, which is so wild to think about and all the heroes we’ve helped. And to just really put a spotlight on the incredible heroes we have this season in D.C.”