Original 'Queer Eye' Star Carson Kressley Zings Hit Netflix Reboot

Still, the "RuPaul's Drag Race" judge was thrilled by how much TV has expanded in recent years.
“We’re so lucky to work in TV,” Carson Kressley said. “It’s really having a renaissance right now and so inclusive and diverse.”
“We’re so lucky to work in TV,” Carson Kressley said. “It’s really having a renaissance right now and so inclusive and diverse.”
Emma McIntyre via Getty Images

After two successful seasons and four Emmy Award nominations, Netflix’s “Queer Eye” reboot is a certified cultural phenomenon. However, one of the stars of the original series just threw down this week that those who launched “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” were the real pioneers.

Carson Kressley, aka the fashion expert on the Bravo TV series from 2003 through 2007, was asked about the current show on Monday at a Los Angeles event celebrating the Emmys’ 70th anniversary.

Kressley, now a judge on “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” said he was happy the revamped “Queer Eye” had scored some Emmys love, but couldn’t resist a little dig at his successors.

“I’m thrilled that they’re nominated,” he told Variety. “But it was a little more groundbreaking back when we won an Emmy in 2004.”

Kressley noted how much the television landscape has expanded since the original “Queer Eye” ended 11 years ago.

“We’re so lucky to work in TV,” he said. “It’s really having a renaissance right now and so inclusive and diverse.”

“Queer Eye” helped Kressley to establish himself on television and in film. Besides “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” the 48-year-old Pennsylvania native has appeared on “Dancing With the Stars” and “The New Celebrity Apprentice,” and acted in movies like “The Perfect Man” and “16 to Life.”

In June, he recalled for HuffPost how much the success of the original “Queer Eye” surprised him and co-hosts Ted Allen, Kyan Douglas, Thom Filicia and Jai Rodriguez.

“In my heart of hearts, I thought this was probably gonna go nowhere,” said Kressley, who worked for Ralph Lauren before venturing into TV. “I didn’t know if it would have any kind of longevity, and fortunately it did. And by like August that year, we were, like, on ‘The Tonight Show’ and doing ‘Ellen’ ― and it was a real whirlwind, going to the Emmys. Because, you know, six months before, we weren’t on TV ever.”

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