Tan France: I would think upper-class men like Louis Theroux are mean
The fashion designer talked to Theroux about how he feels his experience with racism is different in the US than the UK.
Queer Eye’s Tan France has said he would assume documentarian Louis Theroux – who he called his “idea of a very posh man” – as being the “kind of guy who would say something mean” about him being gay.
The fashion designer came out when he was 17 and has previously spoken out about the racism and homophobia he faced as a person from a Pakistani background growing up in Doncaster, Yorkshire, in the UK.
He told The Louis Theroux Podcast: “If I didn’t know you, I would think: ‘He seems like the kind of guy who would say something mean about me after we’ve done the podcast, about me being gay’, but I know that that’s not you.
“You just seem so straight that you couldn’t possibly be nice to us (the gay community). But you are. You’re lovely.”
The 40-year-old said: “I haven’t lived in England for a long time but you are my idea of a very posh man and I would assume – raised upper class. So, those folks, I just always assume, can’t possibly like the marginalised groups very much.
“Obviously, I’ve known your work for years, so I know that that’s not you. But if we didn’t know you from TV, or radio, you’d fit the mould.”
Theroux said: “I appreciate your honesty. That isn’t what I was expecting and it gives me a lot to think about.
“I feel like I’m having my own sort of one-man Queer Eye experience.”
He added: “You get the medicine that you need, not the medicine you want, right?”
France discussed what it has been like to live in America and said the racism he experiences in the UK is often worse than in the US.
He said: “The Brits don’t want to hear it. They’re not ready to hear it.
“It makes them really, really angry and I think that speaks volumes, Louis.”
“I think that it’s a real issue we have back home and it’s the reason why I’m so much happier here, and that comment also gets a lot of negative reaction, a huge negative reaction saying; ‘We’ve seen the racism on the news in America, you’re telling us that it’s worse than the UK?’ For me personally. Yes. That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
France added that he knows the racism for the black community in the US is “disgusting” but he can only talk about his view as an Asian man growing up in the UK.
He said: “My family continues to experience the same thing. I left the UK 15 years ago and I’m not saying that I hate the UK, I love the UK.
“The majority of the people in the UK are amazing and have been so good and compassionate, and aren’t racist at all.
“But, as we know, it’s not those lovely people that are speaking up.
“It’s the people who hate you who are going to tell you they hate you on the street.”
France also said he was “incredibly frustrated” that when he speaks out he is viewed as an “arrogant douche” who thinks he is “better” now he has left the UK.
He added: “We’re saying that we’ve now left the UK, so we feel galvanised and powerful enough to be able to say we don’t expect anything from you, so we can now speak about how bad the damage was that was done to us.”
France now lives in Salt Lake City in Utah with his partner Rob France, who was raised Mormon.
The Louis Theroux Podcast is available on Spotify, with new episodes airing every Tuesday.
