Jonathan Van Ness responded to criticism following the launch of their new pet food company with Queer Eye costar Antoni Porowski.
For context, earlier this week, both Antoni and JVN started posting on social media about becoming "partners" — with Antoni writing, "Some personal news ❤️ after years of joking about it, we’re finally together. Here’s to giving things a shot :) More tomorrow."
"We’re finally together ❤️ Details tomorrow, but know that we’re very happy and feeling supported by the people around us 🏳️🌈," JVN added on their Instagram.
Even the joke-couple account for JVN and Antoni posted, "And to think it all started as a joke. Happy to report that we’re finally together as partners — for real this time :) More tomorrow."
While there were some raised eyebrows over whether the partnership was as romantic as implied, any speculation was cleared up when JVN and Antoni posted the uncropped versions of the pics — revealing them to be promo images for their new pet meal mix-ins company, Yummers.
From the jump, JVN added in the comments, "hope you're not too heartbroken we were being clever lil' bebe's to announce this baby we've been working on for years now!"
Even so, some accused the pair of queerbaiting:
@antoni @jvn @Yummerspets Not the Queers Queerbaiting
@antoni @jvn @Yummerspets Who knew that queer baiting was such a good marketing ploy! It’s important to remember that rainbow capitalism isn’t just for brands and the straights.
Others responded with memes:
@antoni @jvn @Yummerspets
And others, with genuine upset:
@antoni @jvn @Yummerspets I'm pretty mad about this actually. Y'all jerked a lot of people around who were very sincerely happy for you and wished you well.
As negative responses began to roll in, they responded to one now-deleted comment by saying, "[We] wanted to create some fun, splashy buzz around it. I'm happily married and figured most people would get the joke."
They further tweeted, "seeing folx be mad about two queer people making a joke to launch a biz are the same critics who have nothing to say about queer issues impacting queer people. Don’t say trans bills, the overturning of Dobbs, the threat to marriage equality… but yes be mad about pet food."
seeing folx be mad about two queer people making a joke to launch a biz are the same critics who have nothing to say about queer issues impacting queer people. Don’t say trans bills, the overturning of Dobbs, the threat to marriage equality… but yes be mad about pet food. 🙃
Which prompted further discussion:
@jvn This message right here sucks worse than the awful stereotype joke you used to grab headlines to promote your business so you could make money. But sure, throw trans bills on here so you look altruistic
@jvn you 2 getting richer from a branding deal does nothing to affect those bills or the lives of the queer ppl they actually impact whatsoever and neither does you yas queening politicians so don’t try to virtue signal as if you add anything to the world other than sponsored content
@jvn It’s not that deep, the joke wasn’t funny and queer people are just a tougher audience than the cishet Target moms your usual antics are intended for. Which is fine? Get your money, but don’t whine when the bit falls flat with us.