Karamo Brown has discussed his personal experience with racism. In an exclusive clip of the upcoming episode of the RED TABLE TALK. The 40-year old queer eye star has revealed that he has faced racism within his own family. Brown told Gloria, Emily and Estefan that he is both Jamaican and Cuban and his Cuban family almost denied to accept him when he was growing up, although he thinks that was not “deliberate”. “I don’t think they understood what they were doing,” Brown explains, “but it was the subliminal, unconscious, internalized racism that was in them.”
Brown also says that the Cuban side of his family would discuss his darker skin tone in a disparaging way. “For me, playing outside as a kid was nerve wracking because my grandmother would say, ‘Don’t go outside and don’t darken up my family. Don’t darken up my family. Don’t darken up my family. Don’t darken up my family,'” Brown recalls. “So I would not go outside until after 5 p.m.”
In June 2020, Brown discussed about BLACK LIVES MATTER, and his willingness to educate those who want to learn. “There are people now waking up that they need to educate themselves on what is happing to Black people, so this moment where you step up and truly learn and be there for someone else,” he said at the time. “That’s what Queer Eye is about: being there for someone else.”
“This is a moment that everyone in this country has a chance to be there for someone else, and I think that is great,” he continued. “If people are looking for that support, I have taken it upon myself that I am OK with giving education.”