'Queer Eye' Star Jonathan Van Ness Wants More LGBTQ+ Representation on TV

Philip Ellis

August 17, 2019 3:27 PM

Queer Eye was nominated for six Emmys this year, but Jonathan Van Ness is just getting started. In addition to changing lives through grooming on Queer Eye, he is also the host of the Earwolf podcast Getting Curious, and he's also up for an Emmy of his own, with the final season of his Funny or Die webseries Gay of Thrones. In a recent interview with The Wrap , JVN spoke about his experience of working in Hollywood, and the need for a greater variety of LGBTQ+ representation in television and pop culture.

JVN: 'There Should Be So Many More Queer TV Shows'

"Its really reassuring," he said of the popularity that Queer Eye and Pose are currently enjoying in mainstream culture. "But look at the amount of popular, award-winning television that is cisgendered and heterosexual and heteronormative. Look at the amount of creators, writers, makeup artists, hairdressers, costume designers, actors, actresses that are LGBTQ-identified and how much content that they get that reflects them."

Van Ness, who appeared alongside his Queer Eye co-stars and a panoply of other LGBTQ+ celebrities in Taylor Swift's 'You Need to Calm Down' music video, is optimistic about the direction that the entertainment industry is headed in, but is mindful that one or two success stories should not lead to gratuitous back-slapping or complacency.

"I do think that in general we are quick to congratulate ourselves for having this sense of representation," he said, "but having two shows that we can name off the top of our head that have a queer POV is not enough no tea, no shade, no pink lemonade to you or anyone else. But we have a huge number of LGBTQ people whose stories do not get told. With all due respect, there should be so many more queer shows."

Philip Ellis