‘Queer Eye’ Star Jonathan Van Ness Dragged for Gun Violence Tweet

Jonathan Van Ness, a member of the “Fab Five” on Netflix’s Queer Eye, was criticized on Twitter for his comment on gun violence in music.

Back on March 8, the grooming expert, 31, asked why gun violence is “normalized” in music after he heard Nicki Minaj’s “Good Form.”

“Ew why do we normalize gun violence in our music so much? I just actually listened to the lyric, ‘im only faithful to the ones that bought guns for me’ why is this sexy? Why is it cute?” Van Ness asked. “If you rapping on how guns are real cute it strikes me as increasingly [problematic].”

YouTube star King “Kingsley” Russell quickly replied to Van Ness, pointing out that he got the lyric wrong and that it has little to do with guns.

“No, you didn’t listen to that because the lyric is ‘I’m only loyal to the N– that’ll bust guns for me’ and it has little to do with actual GUNS, it’s a metaphor meaning you ride 4 those who ride 4 you. You don’t understand it because the genre is not for you to understand.

Others criticized Van Ness for misunderstanding the song.

“This tweet is so sloppy it does a real disservice to the gun safety issue,” one person wrote.

“I get that we don’t want to normalize gun violence,” another wrote. “But us white people have oppressed the black community and ignored their plights for so long I don’t think it’s productive to come in from the outside and criticize black art or how guns are portrayed in rap.”

“A) That’s not the lyric lol and B) how about we don’t punish black women for excelling in their field by utilizing their culture as an art form,” added another.

Van Ness never directly apologized for the tweet, but his next tweet was about refusing to hold back on his opinions on International Women’s Day.

“Tell me to sit down & shut up. Say every nasty thing about me hunny,” he wrote. “I’ve seen far too much loss and violence with my own eyes & I still use my voice. All the strong women in my life taught me how to do that.”

Van Ness has spoken out about his support for stricter gun control, even devoting an episode of his podcast to the topic in 2016.

“Guns both legal & illegal, Driving under the influence, and suicide take a hundreds of thousands of lives each year in America. But no crisis for these, no national emergency? But illegal immigration which causes a fraction of deaths that’s where the crisis is?” he tweeted in January.

Van Ness’ comments came a week before Queer Eye Season 3 was released on Netflix on Friday. In the eight episodes, Van Ness and his co-stars bring their sense of style to Kansas and Missouri.

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