‘Dancing With the Stars’: Eliminated Karamo Brown Addresses Backlash He Received for Sean Spicer Comment

Karamo Brown was eliminated from Dancing With the Stars this week, reflecting on his time with the reality competition while speaking to Entertainment Tonight after the show. During his conversation, he addressed the controversy he ignited before even stepping foot into the ballroom, which came about after Brown supported Sean Spicer‘s casting on the show amid immense backlash.

“This has been a positive experience for me from day one. I have grown, I’ve learned stuff and also, I gotta be honest with you, when this show started for me, there was backlash, because I made a comment about Sean Spicer,” Brown said. “A lot of people told me, ‘You’re wrong, we don’t like you.’ And I just knew in my heart, we’re at a place in our country where people are divided, where they’re not talking, and to see Sean’s reaction tonight — to see and have the conversations I’ve been having with him shows that if you can just show kindness, maybe you can infuence somebody who has different points of view than you.”

“That’s what’s been happening. So, I feel like a winner,” the Queer Eye star continue. “But think about that. No one would have thought at the beginning of this that a white Republican would have been crying over the gay black guy going home. It’s because we’ve had heartfelt conversations, we’ve talked about things, and it doesn’t mean that I’ve influenced him completely, but I’ve touched his heart to some degree and I think that’s what we need in this country. So, I’m happy about it.”

After Brown’s elimination, Spicer told ET that he had “mixed emotions” about staying in the competition but watching Brown leave.

“Obviously seeing a friend go home, who’s done so much, has made so much progress, it’s tough,” the former White House press secretary said. “I know how hard he works and so it’s mixed. I’m really excited and humbled that we’re going on but I’m really sad to see him go.”

“We’ve had a lot of great conversations and he’s been unbelievably supportive of me, and I have of him,” he continued. “I think we both had some stumbles out of the gate. So, knowing that we both had to double down and work really hard to make progress kind of creates this bond. We did the team dance together…and so it is tough to see him go.”

Spicer and partner Lindsay Arnold have continuously had some of the lowest scores in the competition, and fans have been expressing their disappointment with the show’s voting system online each week that Spicer remains on the dance floor.

Photo Credit: Getty / Allen Berezovsky