Jonathan Van Ness: There’s ‘Never A Wrong Time’ For ‘Queer Eye’ — It’s About ‘Human Connection’

Yaaaas, queen! ‘Queer Eye’ Grooming Guru Jonathan Van Ness shares why now was a great time to revive the fan-fave show & talks to HL about his beaming pride ahead of the NYC Pride Parade!

Ahead of New York City’s Pride Parade and in the midst of Pride Month, Jonathan Van Ness can’t help but feel proud of the progress America has made in accepting and supporting the LGBTQ community. “Where I am in life is crazy, compared to the little boy that grew up in the little Midwestern town,” the fabulous Queer Eye star gushes in an exclusive interview with HollywoodLife. Shows like Queer Eye have helped bring that modernization to our society, as Jonathan and the rest of his Fab Five not only help makeover a straight man, but they engage in sometimes challenging conversations with their subjects, who may be homophobic or even staunch Donald Trump supporters. It’s because of this theme that the show has had such an incredible response from Americans who are searching high and low for hope and assurance that there is civil discourse occurring in America.

“I have this little joke in my head that the original Queer Eye went off the air in 2007, when the Bush Administration was on it’s way out. And I was like, ‘Oh that’s fun, maybe we should just always have a Queer Eye if there’s a Republican administration!’ because then you make sure that there’s always a great chat on diversity and the LGBTQ community,” Jonathan laughs. “I think that there’s really never a wrong time to talk about human connection, and I really think that’s what Queer Eye is about. It’s really what it was about the first time, and it’s what it’s about this time. It’s about connection and people helping people and I think that’s really fun. I don’t think there’s really a wrong time to talk about that.” The grooming expert, with Fabio long locks added, “Connection is important and it’s more possible than we think.” With people like Jonathan in the world, pushing us forward and helping us find our inner and outer beauty, it certainly is possible.

SMIRNOFF, similarly, is finding connection with the Pride community and beyond through their special edition “Love Wins” Bottles! Not only are they showing support through their bright, rainbow bottles, but the brand also pledged to donate $1 for every SMIRNOFF “Love Wins” bottle sold, to the Human Rights Campaign for a minimum of one million dollars over three years, starting in 2019. “This is really Cardi B-ish of us and I love it!” Jonathan exclaims when discussing Smirnoff’s pride pledge. “I just love that they’re donating that money to HRC. They do so much important work for so many different types of people, and when you have an organization that big, they help out so many different people and it takes a lot of resources. That’s really why we’re here for Pride — to celebrate ourselves in this community but also donate money to an organization that’s doing so much work for us, day in and day out.” Jonathan Van Ness will be repping Smirnoff at New York City’s Pride Parade this weekend, and he’s definitely going to be looking fabulous — so find him, and buy a bottle of SMIRNOFF to show your Pride!