'Queer Eye' Star Karamo Brown Says Cast Trashing Him On Hot Mic Was Final Straw
'Queer Eye' Alum Karamo Brown Hot Mic Trash Talk Was Hot Mess No Makeover Could Fix
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Karamo Brown is opening up about his decision to cut ties with the "Queer Eye" franchise ... saying he often felt like an outsider ... and that was before he got backstabbed!!!
The last straw for Karamo ... castmates trashing him behind his back on a hot mic -- which TMZ first reported.
To this day, Karamo still doesn't say what his fellow cast members said about him on set during the reboot's third season ... he didn't want specifics -- becuase he knew it was so brutal, it devastated his mother, who overheard the trash talk.
TMZ broke the story ... Karamo walked away after the show's 10th and final season -- skipping the final press tour due to his hurt and bitterness over what he called a toxic workplace.
Karamo recalled the incident in a cover interview with PEOPLE ... explaining how his mom overhearing Jonathan Van Ness, Tan France, and Antoni Porowski speaking negatively about him is what pushed him over the edge to expose the alleged behind-the-scenes toxicity.
KB says his mom had tears in her eyes as she kept repeating, "I thought they were your friends."
Karamo says the incident opened his eyes and made him realize he could no longer stay silent about how often he "was made to feel like an outsider."
Before we first reported on the hot mic incident, Karamo's team cited mental and emotional abuse as the reason why he was MIA from the season 10 press tour, saying Karamo had been advised by his therapist to protect his peace. Karamo later appeared in a video message on "TODAY," telling fans he was choosing self-love.
