Queer Eye for the Trump Guy

Netflix brought back Queer Eye last month, and it is shockingly good. The new Fab Five are great, and the relocation to Georgia was a fantastic idea. Most importantly, the subjects chosen for the makeovers are all really interesting. There’s the 57-year-old single man struggling with Lupus; the semi-closeted gay black man who wants to come out to his family; the father of six(!!!) whose life is in a predictable amount of chaos; and so many more amazing and really unique individuals whose lives could clearly benefit from a head-to-toe makeover.

Oh, and there’s also a white cop who voted for Trump. Fuck that dude.

Episode three of Queer Eye, entitled “Dega Don’t,” is a failure on so many levels that I’m surprised the producers even allowed it to air. Firstly, it’s superficial in ways that none of the other new episodes are. With every other episode, the people chosen for makeovers have real problems that need emergency intervention, or at least are beyond fixing on their own. The guy from the first episode, not only does he have Lupus, but he also broke his damn back the year prior. The programmer from the second episode obviously has some kind of social anxiety that’s holding him back. The fireman who closes out the series has a tangible fundraising goal for his firehouse that the Fab Five help him meet. The stakes are high for these people.

But Cory Waldrop has none of these problems. He’s just a fat, lazy white guy who doesn’t treat himself or his wife with respect because he can’t be bothered to. That’s all. The episode never convinces me that I should give a shit about this guy, or that any obstacle in his life is so overwhelming that he needs help from our illustrious homosexuals.

And of course, he voted for Trump. 

As the Fab Five tear through Cory’s house in the beginning of the episode, they stumble upon a pair of Trump/Pence 2016 signs in the garage. They pause for a microsecond, but their entire episode is just brushed off almost instantaneously. It’s played for laughs, the group moves on. No one bothers to ask Cory why he’s so cool with having a group of gay men come into his house despite the fact that he helped vote a violently anti-LGBT bigot into the White House. 

And it won’t be the last time that the Five give Cory’s personal politics a pass. In a scene that many have talked about (and somehow praised), the lone black member of the five, Karamo, actually does try to confront Cory about racism and police brutality. It’s an intensely uncomfortable exchange, made all the more uncomfortable by the fact that nothing is really resolved by the end of it. Karamo brings up that his son was scared to get his licence because he didn’t want to get pulled over and killed by a cop. Cory’s basic response is to say that most cops are good and that the “other side” (i.e. BLACK PEOPLE) need to do more to understand that. He then goes onto give a vague example of police brutality that he was upset by, one that was, notably, not an example of an unarmed black man being murdered by a white cop.

There are no “both sides” when it comes to cops murdering black people. That’s like trying to say there’s “both sides” to institutional sexism, antisemitism, or violent gay bashing. The perpetrators are wrong, they need to realize they are wrong or get the fuck out. The end. I would’ve loved it if Karamo asked Cory what innocent black men can do to help white cops not murder them, but alas, that never happened. Karamo offers some vague thank you for Cory’s useless comments and they move on.

Defenders of Cory might say something like “Cory can’t be a bad guy, he let these gay men (and a black man) come into his house and befriend him!” And to that I say, “no he didn’t.” Cory didn’t befriend these people, Cory didn’t accept these people. Cory didn’t do anything that showed his personal growth at all. Cory tolerated the Fab Five simply because they were there to serve him. They were there to make his life better. They were servants to him, and that is all. Of course, maybe Cory is  beacon of equality and tolerance among his police force, but he sure as hell didn’t present himself as such.

Cory isn’t the only conservative given the makeover treatment on Queer Eye. While they never discuss politics with Tom, the previously mentioned 57-year-old with Lupus, I highly doubt he’s Bernie Bro. But he’s not a selfish man. When the five remake Tom’s home, he actually breaks down and cries, thanking them profusely and honestly for their help. They make Tom a better person, and in turn he uses that to treat his ex-wife/current girlfriend (Tom’s romantic life seems complicated) better. It’s also worth noting that, at one point in the episode Tom makes a crude comment about gay couples (“which one is the man”), the Fab Five call him out on it, and he actually, honestly apologizes.

And then there’s the wonderful Bobby Camp, father of six and super-devout Christian. He is in dire need of help, his life is a tornado of stress that could literally kill him. But his goal for being on the show was not to make his life better, but to make the lives of his wife and kids better. He wants his kids of have a home that they can feel proud of, and he wants to give his wife the wedding reception they never had the first time around. Again, it’s not about him.

But most importantly, he tells the Fab Five that he wanted to be on the show to show that you can be Christian and support the LGBT community. He says how he was raised to hate gay people, but later found out that was wrong. He wants others to feel the same. He is on this show to raise awareness to Christians that they can change.

Tom’s had a rough life and deserves some much needed help. Bobby Camp is a champ trying to make the world a better place. Cory Waldrop is a white cop who voted for Trump who never expresses an unselfish thought for the entirety of the episode. The only time he shows any emotion other than apathy is when the subject of his dead dad is brought up. If the Fab Five aren’t actively trying to support Cory and Cory’s life, Cory don’t give a fuck. 

And I don’t give a fuck about Cory. Cops complacent in police brutality don’t get sympathy from me. Unrepentant Trump voters don’t get my support. If this gay was in charge of making over Cory’s life, my contribution would be for him to discuss police brutality with a group of black civil rights leaders, while he’s being forced to watch videos of cops killing unarmed black men. Cory doesn’t need a new suit and a night out on the town with his wife and kids to make him forget about his problems, Cory needs a swift kick in the ass and a fucking wake up call to see just how many problems his kind are causing the rest of the world.

Helping people like Cory isn’t going to do anything to help improve the public perception of gays or blacks by the population at large. In fact, it’s a giant fucking step in the wrong direction. Queer Eye has always come dangerously close to being a gay variation of the “magical negro” trope, the minority character in fiction who serves no purpose other than to make the white protagonist’s life better. Its a dehumanizing role that strips the minority of agency or character. It turns them into servants. The new season of Queer Eye avoided this trope by confronting hatred and intolerance head-on, as well as helping genuinely good people who were in dire need of their assistance. There is something to be said for fighting oppression with a smile on your face, and that’s what Queer Eye does by helping these people who need it so much.

But Cory Waldrop didn’t need our help. And by brushing aside his brutality apologia and his Trump-loving ways, they were telling him that he was okay just the way his is, and that minorities are nothing but tools to make his blessed white life even better. I hope they learn better for season two and don’t make the same mistake twice. Or at the very least confront these people for the hateful hypocrites they are. Get some gay rage up in here.