Queer Eye's Tan France says Bobby Berk was 'fired', denies campaign to 'get rid' of him

Queer Eye star Tan France has recently issued a statement following a report that claimed he had “Campaigned to replace [Bobby] Berk with interior designer and friend Jeremiah Brent.” 

Berk, the show’s interior design expert, announced in November that he would be leaving the Netflix hit after its latest season. 

Following a report published by Rolling Stone, several interviews with unnamed production staff revealed that Berk had butted heads with fashion expert Tan France and hair stylist Jonathan Van Ness several times. Other sources claimed in what were “Mean girl antics,” France and cooking expert Antoni Porowski campaigned to have Berk replaced on the show by Brent. 

Following news of the report, France took to social media to say his piece. “I just want to address one point real quick,” he said, “My former colleague getting fired had nothing to do with me trying to get my friend hired. 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.” 

When Berk announced he was leaving the show last year, he did not allude to being fired. He said leaving the show had “Not been an easy decision to be at peace with.” 

France continued in the video, saying, “Am I so happy that they have the job? Uh-huh. I really am. I think they’re going to be incredible on the show, but I didn’t get them hired by getting rid of somebody else.”

Rumours of a feud between the two arose when Berk unfollowed France on Instagram. Since then, in an interview, he said, “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.”