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Decades before Karamo Brown made his mark as the culture expert on Queer Eye, he was part of another legendary reality television universe: that of MTV’s The Real World.
Brown, who is making headlines amid cast tension as the final season of Queer Eye is released,
Now 45, Brown launched his television career as a cast member of The Real World Philadelphia in 2004.
At the time, he was a 23-year-old social worker — and became part of pop culture history as one of the first openly gay, Black men on reality TV.
In 2024, as The Real World: Philadelphia, marked its 20th anniversary, Brown took to Instagram to share a series of clips from the early 2000s show.
“Today, 20 years ago… 23 year old lil Karamo was cast on #MTVRealWorld,” Brown wrote. “Damn I’ve been in this game for a minute. Feeling misunderstood & alone on this show is what lead me into the career I have today, helping others!”
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In a video shared by The Real World to Facebook in 2019, Brown looked back at his time on the show, including the moment he came out to one of his cast mates.
“Oh my gosh, that moment — I still remember feeling like, ‘This is a moment where people are going to get to see someone who they’ve never seen,” Brown said in the Facebook video. “They’ve only seen on Real World white guys who are openly gay, and this is the moment they’re going to get to see an African-American guy that is openly gay, who loves being Black, who is all about hip hop culture.”
In another scene from the show, Brown came out to two of his straight male roommates — M.J. Garrett and, saying in the video they were “so oblivious.”
“This was all that happened in the early 2000s,” Brown said. “People were not as exposed to the LGBTQ community as they needed to be. Literally, these two white guys swore — because I had a fitted hat on and my clothes were baggy — that I was straight, and a lot of people still think that.”
Another pivotal moment from Brown’s season took place when he was surrounded by Philadelphia police at a nightclub, after an alleged tip was called in reporting that he had a gun (he did not).
Calling it a “critical moment” in his 20s, Brown said of the scene: “It’s still a discussion that is still going on. And in that moment, the world got to see me being harassed for no reason, and the police surrounding me, telling me I have a gun.”
He continued: “I was upset, but what made me more upset was that these two white men who I consider my friends kept telling me that I was overreacting.”
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Brown joined the cast of Netflix’s reboot of Queer Eye in 2018.
On Wednesday, Jan. 21, the streaming service released the show’s final season, which is set in Washington D.C.
The release of the final season comes amid public tension among the cast, who appeared at two recent live morning TV interviews sans Brown.
In an appearance on Tuesday, Jan. 20 on CBS Mornings, host Gayle King shared that one hour before the interview, the show learned that Brown would not be in attendance. Shortly after, the cast appeared on NBC’s Today with Jenna & Sheinelle with Brown once again absent.
In a statement. read by King on the show, Brown’s assistant said he “has felt mentally and emotionally abused for years,” and was advised by his therapist “to protect himself and his peace by not attending.” He did not offer further specifics.
After the cast were asked for their reaction to Brown’s absence on Today with Jenna & Sheinelle, Antoni Porowski said, “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.”
Brown also unfollowed all of his costars on social media, except for Jeremiah Brent, who joined the cast in season 9 after Bobby Berk, who also has revealed some drama within the group, exited.
In a video message, Brown encouraged fans to still watch the 10th season of Queer Eye, saying he “loved every minute of it,” and adding, “The crew worked on it and did an amazing job. I want to shout out to the crew. I want to shout out to the fans. I want to shout out to the executives at Netflix.”
Brown did not thank his costars in the video.
