Jonathan Van Ness, one of the hosts of the Netflix cable channel’s Queer Eye television series, learned the hard way this week what happens to people who dare to disagree with their fellow liberal Democrats in public.
The clash started after candidates from the GOP won primary elections across the country the previous day, but his reward for stating that not all Republicans are evil and racist was to be slammed by other posters online.
According to an article written by The Wrap's Jon Levine: “Van Ness had to defend himself on Wednesday after he was ripped for urging his fans to be tolerant of other ideas and saying that not all Republicans were evil and racist.”
The Queer Eye host actually posted:
Luckily a lot [of] extreme right people won yesterday, meaning that if we can come up w center left candidates we can take back the house & senate, not to mention many state legislatures.
It is so important for the left to not go too left or we are done for.
Later that day, Van Ness went even further: “Not all republicans are racist, just like not all democrars [sic] are evil, we have to stop demonizing each other. Unless you’re actually racist then you suck, Trump is [r]acist -- not all his voters are necessarily; we gotta remember we are all in this together.”
“Fans of Van Ness weren’t having it,” Levine asserted. Instead, they started “warning him to stay in his lane and insisted that with Trump in the White House, there could be no compromise.”
@jizzywins quickly joined the fray by declaring: “This is the worst political advice ever. Progressive candidates that actually stand for something are how we win.”
“Running towards the center with Clinton just gave us 4 years of Trump,” the poster added. “{L}et’s not be silly again. People want universal health care ... period.”
Under the controversial screen name “antifa is good,” @BobbyLibby offered some advice of his own:
Jonathan, electing Centrist & Conservatives Democrats is what neutered the ACA [Affordable Care Act] from being as effective as it could have been. With more progressives instead of DINOs [Democrats in Name Only], we could have had a Public Option.
This is EXTREMELY bad advice. Left-punching from you is so disappointing.
Next up was Hannah Moskowitz, who stated: “Yeah, totally, my jewish ass needs to stop demonizing” before including a picture of Adolf Hitler above an article with the title “Republican who said ‘Hitler was right’ wins Missouri primary.”
Moskowitz then added: “[T]ake it from a fellow white gay person; we still have a LOT of privilege here, and there are a lot of people we need to be listening to.”
“And telling your fans, who are largely minorities, that they need to recognize the very fine people on both sides is not the way,” she concluded.
Van Ness rejoined the discussion by telling naysayers:
There’s a lot to be mad about. I absolutely agree, but … Rome wasn’t built in a day, we didn’t get in this United States situation in a day. It won’t take us demanding all we want to get to where we get to go. You have to move a little bit at a time. That’s how government works.
Being able to compromise is what’s missing from both sides of the American political situation, and the sooner we all get to a place of mutual understanding, the sooner we will get out of this mess.
Meanwhile, Queer Eye – which is a reboot of the previous Bravo series Queer Eye for the Straight Guy – was renewed for a third season in July. Whether Van Ness survives as a cast member after being far too reasonable for his fellows on the left remains to be seen.
