Jeremiah Brent addresses whether he spoke with Bobby Berk after replacing him on ‘Queer Eye’
Jeremiah Brent may be taking over Bobby Berk’s old role as the interior design expert on “Queer Eye,” but the two have never spoken in real life.
Brent, who makes his debut on the Dec. 11 Season 9 premiere of the reality series, appeared on “Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen” this week where he discussed his friendship — or lack thereof — with Berk, who left the series amid headline-making drama in 2023.
“I’ve never met him,” Brent said of Berk when a viewer asked if Brent’s predecessor gave him advice prior to joining “Queer Eye.”
When host Andy Cohen appeared shocked that Brent and Berk didn’t know each other, Brent clarified his answer.
“I think we did a panel once together. I’m not being shady. We’ve never met … Never spoken,” he explained.
“But I have a tremendous amount of respect for what he did when he was here and what he contributed,” added Brent, who is married to fellow interior designer Nate Berkus.
When Cohen asked if Brent had spoken to Thom Filicia, who acted as the interior design expert on the original “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” series in the early to mid-2000s, Brent replied that he had. “But I love Thom Filicia. Thom Filicia’s the best,” he said.
“But you love Bobby, too,” replied Cohen.
“Yes, I love everybody!” Brent rushed to say, prompting laughter from the studio audience.
Brent’s “Queer Eye” debut comes a little more than a year after Berk announced his departure in November 2023.
After Berk exited the series, fans noticed that he unfollowed Tan France, the show’s style expert, on Instagram, thus igniting rumors of a rift between the former co-stars.
The chatter escalated after Berk spoke to Vanity Fair in January 2024.
“Tan and I had a moment,” Berk told the publication. “There was a situation, and that’s between Tan and I, and it has nothing to do with the show.”
He continued, “It was something personal that had been brewing —and nothing romantic, just to clarify that.”
“Should I have unfollowed Tan? No,” Berk added. “Maybe I should have just muted him. But that day, I was angry, and that’s the end of it. We became like siblings — and siblings are always going to fight.”
Berk went on to say that both he and France attended the Emmys that month and “embraced each other.”
After Rolling Stone reported in March 2024 that Berk left the show after France and Antoni Porowski allegedly campaigned to replace him with Brent, France responded to the report in an Instagram selfie video.
“My former colleague getting fired had nothing to do with me trying to get my friend hired,” France said in the video.
“Netflix and the production companies did a full-on casting. I didn’t pop my friend up for the job — they ended up getting it because they were the best person for the job,” he continued.
“I think they’re gonna be incredible on the show, but I didn’t get them hired by getting rid of somebody else,” he added. “So from the horse’s mouth, I’m telling you, that that’s not at all how it went down. And that’s all I’ll say on the matter.”
