Talking love and life lessons with Queer Eye's Antoni Porowski

[W]hen it was announced that the Queer Eye reboot would launch on Netflix back in February this year it’s fair to say that initially there wasn’t that much fanfare. In fact, some critics thought it odd and outdated to relaunch the original Queer Eye for The Straight Guy franchise that had first premiered on screens back in 2003, and they didn’t hold back in saying so. But that was before they had seen it.

Then, on February 7th everything changed. The new fab five – Jonathan Van Ness, Karamo Brown, Tan France, Bobby Berk and Antoni Porowski – with their charm, wit and authenticity captured the hearts of a nation, and it wasn’t long before Queer Eye became everyone’s water cooler topic of choice. And while each episode is funny, charming and meme worthy with every hair flick and finger waggle (we’re looking at you Jonathan, YAAS QUEEN), they have something else too – heart, a whole lot of it.

In times when good news seems to have been swallowed into an omnipresent black hole, Queer Eye is a light. It’s television that is kind and compassionate, it seeks out people’s differences and doesn’t judge them but instead celebrates and understands, it represents the inclusivity and freedom that in 2018 should be granted to everyone. In short, it couldn’t have come at a better time and praise the Lord for it. And last month the show offered us another beacon of hope – the announcement that season two was coming a lot sooner than expected. Once we’d calmed down enough to compose ourselves we sat down with one fifth of the show’s magic, Antoni Porowski, to find out just what the fab five have got up their sleeves for season two. Their tip: don’t forget your tissues.

Hi Antoni, welcome to London! So how does season two differ from season one – what can we expect?

It’s the same in that the essence of the show is still there but we definitely focus even more on the conversation surrounding inclusivity – it’s not just straight white guys. We’re opening the doors around that in a meaningful way. Also from a more selfish point of view, when I saw season two, the editing team really focussed on some of our quirks so you get to know us more. They really honed in on our specific personality traits which I feel like viewers will really appreciate.

In season one there were episodes that focussed on people that weren’t necessarily the most liberal – we saw the Make America Great Again cap pop up in one episode – how successful do you think Queer Eye has been at breaking down stereotypes that people might have about the LGBTQ community?

I think that from looking at our cast there is definitely diversity. We’re all so different and just showing us five gay spectrum men co-existing in such a friendly way is great. Among a lot of gay guys that I know there is the perception that if a gay guy is friends with another gay guy then obviously they’ve hooked up at some stage, which I find quite obnoxious. I’m a very guarded person – even when I dated women I wasn’t one to hold hands in public, and I’m not like that in my relationship now – I’m very private but I’ve learnt to be more open. Tan and I are always walking around holding hands now and when my boyfriend came to visit me in Atlanta, he was like, “you’ve got 20% gayer” and I take that as a compliment, I’ve grown in confidence. I wish I knew Jonathan as a little kid because I think I would have had a different upbringing and been more comfortable with myself. It’s taken me a while and it’s a continuing process. I think that with the more people that get to know us through the show it’s only going to humanise us more. They will see us people first, not as a label or a sexuality because that’s how it is when you get to know a person. And it goes for the Trump supporters that have been on the show too. If I focus on their political ideology, even though I’m very liberal, then that is a missed opportunity to actually help the person. Humanity comes first.

How important do you think it is that shows like Queer Eye – about inclusivity, kindness and compassion – exist in America today?

I really don’t think that this show could have come at abetter moment in recent history. What really surprises me, and this is sad, is the fact that we’re not really used to being kind to each other, or seeing it on television. I won’t name any names but there are certain shows that have the opportunity to portray women in a positive light but they all end up throwing wine glasses at each other and climbing over tables. I call it the McDonalds syndrome – you eat it and feel good when you’re doing it but ten minutes later you feel like human garbage! It’s something that I’m guilty of feeding into, a lot of us are. With Queer Eye I think people are surprised to see people being genuinely kind to each other and really trying to help each other out. The fact that this came as a shock just shows that we need more of this, and that is a good realisation.

What has been some of the most inspiring feedback since season one wrapped?

The feedback that really gets to me, and every time I hear it it’s like the first time, is from the AJ episode, where he decided that he was ready to come out. I get DMs from boys and girls about it. It’s not an episode that I could have ever foreseen, it was all so honest and raw and you got to see that. Tan and I got to have a conversation about coming out too and everyone’s story is different. For me I dated a guy early on and the relationship didn’t work out and after that I actually dated women for several years, and now I have been in a happy relationship with a man for over seven years. Every coming out is different, we have people who come from different religious backgrounds who can be completely shunned for their sexuality, that’s the world we live in and we have to be conscious and respectful of everyone. It’s not like there is a delineated structure or set of rules and I think that’s what’s great about having such a diverse cast – and I hope that we have more opportunities to explore this in the future.

For a younger generation of people you guys have become gay icons, but who did you have to look up to like that when you were younger?

There’s one person that comes to mind. There was always something about George Michael for me. I danced to “Faith” when I was about fives years old and would pause when the song breaks and do all the moves. And then when I saw the music video for “Freedom” there was something about the lyrics that got to me. It was very sexually liberating, even though I hadn’t even hit puberty but there was something so free and open about how he expressed himself. And aside from that there is another music video from the Pet Shop Boys called “Being Boring” which is one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen in my life. I don’t understand how anyone cannot be pansexual after seeing that. There is something about this careless freedom of youth and the openness to possibilities that comes through it.

And who inspires you now?

Realising the platform that we have and the voice that we’ve been given and that people are listening to that is definitely very inspiring and has me changing and considering the type of work that I want to do. For the first six months or so after the show I felt like I had imposter syndrome because I felt like I wasn’t ‘one way’ enough so I went to every single LGBT event that I possibly could and spread myself too thin and now I’m stepping back and taking a bit more time to consider. Recently I had the privilege of having a meeting with Emma Gonzalez who is doing so much to campaign for gun control in the US and to see what she is doing at such a young age is incredible. Being an activist is in her DNA, and to me someone like that who is so dedicated, young and tough is very inspiring. That is our future.

What has being on Queer Eye taught you about love?

Oh, really good question. Well, sometimes in the world of Twitter people don’t have the nicest things to say! I’m very good at being selective now but at first I wasn’t and I took a lot of things personally. What I’m realising now is that you always have to try to find the human underneath it and try to love unconditionally the way that you would with someone close to you. With anybody that expresses a lot of hatred or resentment, or the symbol of that in the US right now – he who shall remain nameless – it’s important to remember that we’re all people and we were all born innocent. Even though we are sometimes shaped to become people that do some terrible things we really are all human underneath it. So with any type of anger or hatred I try to look at the complete opposite. You never know what someone else’s experience is so I think that it is important to come in from a place of love, it’s very important to do that.

Finally – as we should ask you something food related too! – you can have five people, dead or alive, at a dinner party – who do you choose?

Oh my gosh! Only five? I’d have Johnny Cash, Jack Kerouac, Yoko Ono, Patti Smith and Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, who wrote The Little Prince. That’s my mood today.

Queer Eye Season 2 is on Netflix from June 15th

Polaroids taken using Ice Cream and Tropics Edition film, from Polaroid Originals. Available to purchase online from polaroidoriginals.com.

Talking love and life lessons with Queer Eye’s Antoni Porowski

Published on 13 June 2018