Tan France Almost Quit 'Queer Eye' Back in Season One
It's hard to fathom, but somewhere out there in the multiverse is a reality where Tan France is not one fabulous fifth of the Queer Eye cast. Luckily we're not living in that dark timeline, but we did come pretty close; France has revealed that he came close to quitting the show on multiple occasions prior to and during shooting the first season.
Speaking to INSIDER, France opened up about the pressure he felt going into Queer Eye — and how he might have bolted had he known it would explode into the pop culture phenomenon it is today. "After I accepted the job, I was going to quit before I started shooting because I was too scared of the pressure," he said. "Then, episode three, I tried to quit again because I was too scared of the cameras and, again, the pressure of being part of this community so publicly and having to speak for a community. So yeah, there were many, many times after I accepted the job that I thought, 'I'm not cut out for this.' I felt so much pressure to be Hollywood-y, show business-y, but I was the only one who had no show business experience. The producer of Netflix encouraged me to just be myself. That's why I was hired. I didn't have to put on this fabulous persona. I got to just be myself, which gave me real comfort."
France also spoke about the pressure he felt to represent different communities; not just LGBTQ people, but South Asians and the Pakistani community in particular. He knew that as a gay, brown-skinned man, he would draw attention and the prospect of having to speak for an entire demographic was daunting — until he realized that he didn't have to.
"I'm never going to represent everyone," he said. All I can do is be myself and do my best to conduct myself well. That will hopefully encourage people to see my people in a more positive light... But other than that, I don't see myself as representative at all. I do what I do, and I hope that encourages people to say, 'Oh, well, we don't see all Pakistanis this way, we don't see all South Asians this way, but we like that he's not what we see in the press'... Basically what I'm saying is, not all brown people are terrorists."
At the end of the day, he embraced the lesson that the Fab Five preach in each episode: you have to accept and love yourself. "Then, again, accepting the fact that I didn't have to portray a version of what it is to be a South Asian, gay immigrant. I just got to be me, and that's why I thought, 'OK, I can do this, and at no point will I profess to speak for people. I am myself and myself only.'"
Season Four of Queer Eye starts streaming on Netflix on July 19.
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