Shaking it off! Jonathan Van Ness, hair expert on the Queer Eye reboot, wasn’t entirely fazed after the original series’ fashion guru, Carson Kressley, threw shade at his Emmy nomination.
“I think we all sometimes… we just say things. And it was so groundbreaking what they did and it continues to be so groundbreaking, the first version of Queer Eye,” Van Ness, 31, told Us Weekly and other reporters at the 70th Creative Arts Emmy Awards on Sunday, September 9, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. “I respect Carson so much and I look up to him so much. I think he’s an incredible entertainer and performer and I’m so excited for his new show.”
Van Ness added that Kressley, who is teaming up with fellow Queer Eye for the Straight Guy alum Thom Filicia for a Bravo design show, later clarified his remarks and apologized.
“The very next day, he totally cleared it up and was, like, ‘I love them, I love the show. I love the new version.’ We feel the same about them,” Van Ness explained. “They’re incredible and we love them so much.”
Despite the misunderstanding, Van Ness knows that conflicts may arise comparing the original show and the reboot. “It’s not a thing about hoping [fights don’t come up], I just think people like to suss out issues where there isn’t sometimes,” he noted. “So I just think it’s important to kind of clarify and speak your truth. And that’s why I wanted to say that.”
Kressley made headlines last month after telling Variety that, while he’s “thrilled” that the new Queer Eye cast is nominated for an Emmy, “it was a little more groundbreaking back when [the original cast] won an Emmy in 2004.”
Van Ness and his fellow costars Bobby Berk, Karamo Brown, Antoni Porowski and Tan France took home the Emmy for Outstanding Structured Reality Program on Sunday.
