New ‘Queer Eye’ Episode Is Catching Backlash, Here’s Why

Queer Eye dropped a new episode on Wednesday, but it wasn’t on Netflix. The streaming service opted to share the new episode on YouTube, where anyone can watch it free of charge. The episode does a lot of good for its subject (William Holmes, a 26-year-old Lead Supply Attendant for Delta Air Lines) and gives off the feel-good vibes fans love from the reality series. However, one aspect is rubbing fans the wrong way.

The central narrative of the episode — which Delta Air Lines sponsored — revolves around William putting all his financial efforts towards paying down his student on debt. He keeps tight budgets and doesn’t spend money on anything the Fab 5 would consider part of “self-care.” It’s a fact reiterated over and over again throughout the 48-minute installment, and the Queer Eye team (Antoni Porowski, Bobby Berk, Jonathan Van Ness, Karamo Brown and Tan France) teaches him to splurge a bit on himself to increase his quality of life.

This whole setup leads viewers to think Delta and/or Netflix might cap the experience off by paying off his student debt (or at least part of it). At the end of the episode, no such thing happens. Viewers note that the student loan debt is clearly the main stressor in William’s everyday life, and, while the help Queer Eye gave him is amazing, assisting him financially would be even more life-changing. Delta and Netflix are huge corporations, and this would not be too much of a reach for them. (It’s also worth noting GMC, Lyft, Google, Anthropologie and Uniqlo are listed in the promotional consideration section of the episode.) Scroll through to see some fans’ thoughts on the matter.

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“Kinda shitty for Delta to not at least partially pay off student loan debt for such a loyal employee (7+ years) that they are using for content/marketing,” one YouTube commenter wrote.
 

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“Loved the episode but was SOO disappointed they didn’t erase his student loan debt,” a second commenter wrote. “It would have been zero burden to Netflix to take that awful burden off of his shoulders. It’s clearly the main stresser in his life.”

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“I didn’t expect them to cancel his whole debt, but I thought Delta and Netflix would have given him a 6.000$ check or something,” a third wrote. Another fan wrote, “I am truly flabbergasted that Delta did not offer to pay off at least a fraction of this young man’s student loans?!”
 

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“Delta and QE should have paid off a portion (or even all) of this guys debt,” yet another viewer wrote. Some else replied, “Seriously. That’s what I came to comment too. The amount of promotion in this episode and they didn’t pay of his debt?”

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“This episode could also be 5 min long with first 4 min getting his debt payed off and the dancing routine after,” another person quipped. A more positive Queer Eye fan wrote, “I like these new 5. I wish they helped him a bit with his debt. Overall, this make over show makes you feel good.”
 

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“Just watched the latest @QueerEye and is is such a SHAME that @Delta
 didn’t pay for Holmes student loans!” a Twitter user wrote. “All of that publicity for the company, the man is working so hard and they just leave him high and dry. Not cool!”

The full episode of Queer Eye can be watch above via YouTube. All other episodes of Queer Eye — including the spinoff Queer Eye: We’re in Japan — are currently streaming on Netflix. Season 6 has no release date, but it is in production.