Karamo Brown Is Not Here For ‘Predatory’ LGBTQ+ Flicks

December 17, 2018
TREY-PAUL

Queer Eye's Karamo Brown, who for some reason is consider the end-all-be-all in gay culture to many, recently sat down with Insider to discuss his opinions about LGBTQ+ representation in film. He focused on one movie in particular: Call Me By Your Name.

Brown, who previously worked as a therapist before moving on to other gigs like QE, said: "I’ve worked with many survivors of sexual assault, especially in the LGBTQ community, which oftentimes goes unreported. And so the minute I saw that movie, I thought, 'Here we are glorifying this sort of relationship.'"

He added: "I know we’re calling him a college student, but it looks like a grown man having sex with a little boy. And for me, I just was not OK with that. And I was like, 'Why are we pretending like this is OK in any sense? Fashion or form?'"

Armie Hammer, who plays Oliver in the film, has defended the idea that it is predatory in any way before.

"We weren’t trying to make some salacious, predatory movie,” Hammer told the Hollywood Reporter. "The age of consent in Italy is 14. So, to get technical, it’s not illegal there. Whether I agree with that or not, that’s a whole ‘nother Oprah, you know? Would it make me uncomfortable if I had a 17-year-old child dating someone in their mid-20s? Probably. But this isn’t a normal situation: The younger guy goes after the older guy. The dynamic is not older predator versus younger boy."

Call Me By Your Name has been widely consider to be one of the most impactful LGBTQ-centric films, so hearing a self-proclaimed culture guru give such an opinion does make one wonder what the motive here truly is.

Keep in mind Brown has been quick to judge before. He once pointed out that the idea behind naked selfies and flaunting our bodies all over social media is counterproductive and isn't a good look for the LGBTQ+ community as a whole. Meanwhile, he was posting the same type of photos he was speaking out against on his own Instagram.