Tan France has denied claims he helped to get Bobby Berk fired from Netflix reality series Queer Eye, insisting that his friend Jeremiah Brent, who will replace Bobby as the interiors expert, was "the best person for the job".
“My former colleague getting fired had nothing to do with me trying to get my friend hired,” the fashion designer said in a video he posted to Instagram Friday. Watch the full video below:
“Netflix and the production companies did a full-on casting. I didn’t put my friend up for the job. They ended up getting it because they were the best person for the job," he continued.
"Am I so happy they got the job? Uh huh, I really am, and I think they're going to be incredible on the show, but I didn't get them hired by getting rid of somebody else."
The father-of-two then concluded: "From the horse's mouth, that's how it went down, and that's all I'll say on the matter."
His claim that his former colleague was "fired", however, contradicts Bobby's telling of the situation, as he alleged he stepped back from the show with the understanding that none of the Fab Five – which also includes Jonathan Van Ness, Karamo Brown, and Antoni Poworski – would be returning.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, Bobby claimed that on their final day of filming the current season in New Orleans they "stood there, and we took pictures and cried".
"We thought we were done. Mentally and emotionally, I thought we all moved on. I know I did, and I started planning other things," he admitted. But due to the WGA and SAG strikes in 2023, Netflix reached out to the five about a new contract as they were in need of new content, and Bobby revealed that he "wasn't willing to change" the plans he had already made when he believed the show was not returning.
It emerged in late 2023 that Bobby was leaving the hit Netflix series, and he then unfollowed Tan on social media. It led to speculation that his departure was due to a feud between the pair, but the interior designer insisted in January that the pair "will be fine".
“I hope this interview will help extinguish some of the speculation,” Bobby told Vanity Fair as the seventh season of the Netflix reality show dropped on the platform.
“Tan and I had a moment. 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.”
“Should I have unfollowed Tan? No,” he added. “Maybe I should have just muted him. But that day, I was angry, and that’s the end of it. We became like siblings — and siblings are always going to fight.”