Karamo Brown just confirmed what paparazzi photos had already hinted at: the “Queer Eye” star is dating actor and singer Jussie Smollett, and he’s not being quiet about it. “It’s not like we’re hiding it,” Brown said on a podcast this week, adding that he believes Smollett is going to be his husband.
The relationship went from rumor to headline in about 48 hours. First came the photos. Then came the podcast confirmation. Then came the backlash, because Smollett’s name still carries the weight of his 2019 hate-crime hoax case, and because the relationship arrived just weeks after his previous engagement ended.
Here’s the full story of what happened, who’s involved, and why it’s dividing the internet.
Table of Contents
TL;DR – Key Points
- Karamo Brown confirmed on the “Reality With The King” podcast, released Tuesday, that he’s dating a “celebrity”, context and paparazzi photos from TMZ point to Jussie Smollett.
- The pair were photographed hiking Runyon Canyon and having lunch with Brown’s mother on Monday, June 29.
- Brown told podcast host Carlos King he could see himself marrying his new partner, saying “I do believe this is going to be my husband.”
- The romance surfaced just weeks after Smollett called off his engagement to fiancé Jabari Redd in early June.
- Reaction online has been largely negative, with critics bringing up Smollett’s overturned 2019 conviction; Brown has publicly defended him, including after 50 Cent mocked Smollett’s recent Pride performance.
What Happened: The Timeline
The story broke fast, even by celebrity-news standards. On Monday, June 29, Brown and Smollett spent the day together in Los Angeles.
According to TMZ, the two grabbed lunch with Brown’s mother, ran errands, and finished the day with a hike through Runyon Canyon, a popular Los Angeles trail known for celebrity sightings. Photographers caught the pair in a playful moment during the hike, with Smollett reaching over to touch Brown’s chin.
Those photos published on Monday night set off immediate speculation. Then, just a day later, Brown removed any doubt.
Appearing on Carlos King’s “Reality With The King” podcast, released Tuesday, June 30, Brown told King directly: “I am dating a celebrity. It’s not like we’re hiding it. We go out. We hold hands everywhere.”
He didn’t name his partner outright during the taping, but the timing, released hours after the TMZ photos went public, left little room for interpretation, and outlets including E! News and Extra treated the relationship as effectively confirmed.
Karamo Brown’s Own Words
Brown didn’t hold back about how serious he considers the relationship. On the podcast, he said, “I do believe this is going to be my husband. I believe this is going to be my forever person.”
He went further, describing the connection in emotional terms: “I’ve met my equal… It is powerful when you meet someone who you feel 100 percent safe with, you feel 100 percent secure with, who you can just trust with your heart because you know they are a great human being.”
He also pushed back gently on the idea that he owes anyone details, saying the couple is focused on “protecting the love we have” rather than performing the relationship for public consumption, even while being visibly affectionate in public.
That combination (going public with PDA while asking for privacy around the details) is part of what’s fueling ongoing commentary, since it’s an unusual middle ground for a reality TV personality whose entire career is built on being famously open.
Who Is Jussie Smollett & Why Does His Name Carry Baggage?
For readers who only know the name vaguely, here’s the context that’s driving so much of the reaction.
Smollett, 44, is an actor and singer best known for his role on Fox’s “Empire.” In January 2019, he reported to Chicago police that he had been the victim of a racist, homophobic attack.
Investigators later concluded he had staged the incident, paying two brothers to carry it out as what prosecutors described as a publicity stunt.
A jury convicted Smollett in 2021 on five counts of felony disorderly conduct for making a false police report.
That conviction did not stand. In November 2024, the Illinois Supreme Court overturned Smollett’s conviction, sparing him a jail sentence he had already begun serving. Importantly, the reversal was procedural, not a finding of innocence.
The court ruled that prosecutors violated a prior agreement when they brought a second case against him after an earlier one had been dropped in exchange for community service and forfeited bail.
The justices were explicit that the ruling had “nothing to do with” whether Smollett actually staged the attack, and left the jury’s original guilty verdict on the record.
In short Smollett is not currently jailed, and legally the case is closed. But the underlying finding (that he lied to police about a hate crime) has never been erased from public memory, which is why his name still triggers strong reactions whenever he resurfaces in the news.
Since then, Smollett has kept a lower public profile, occasionally returning to music and acting. He returned to live performance recently at Harlem Pride’s “17 Shades of Pride” celebration, marking his first live singing performance in eight years, according to Complex.
The Broken Engagement That Came Right Before This
One detail adding fuel to the story is timing. Smollett had been engaged to Jabari Redd, a former HBCU basketball player and now-public figure in his own right, for close to a year.
According to TMZ, Smollett had proposed to Redd around June 2025, posting at the time that he’d be “spending my birthday with my Fiancé… He said YES.”
That engagement ended in early June 2026, just weeks before the Karamo Brown relationship became public. Sources described the split to outlets as recent, putting only a short gap between one serious relationship ending and a new one going fully public with hand-holding and hikes.
That compressed timeline is exactly what critics have zeroed in on. It’s also, to be fair, not unusual in celebrity dating circles, where new relationships often surface quickly after a breakup becomes public. Still, it’s part of why some fans have described the pairing as sudden.
The Backlash, Explained
Public reaction has skewed negative, and it’s coming from a few different directions at once.
Some critics are simply uncomfortable with Smollett’s past resurfacing in a feel-good relationship story, arguing that a case involving a fabricated hate crime shouldn’t be treated as old news just because the conviction was thrown out on a technicality.
Others have focused on Brown himself, who has built a reality TV career, first on MTV’s “The Real World: Philadelphia,” now as the culture expert on Netflix’s “Queer Eye”, around being outspoken and dramatic, and some fans see this relationship as an extension of that persona rather than a private matter.
There’s also a running joke in the reaction cycle: several commenters noted the optics of the relationship becoming public right at the tail end of Pride Month, with one line circulating online asking, “THIS is how we’re ending Pride month?”
The negativity escalated further when rapper and actor 50 Cent, a longtime rival of Smollett’s dating back to their competing shows “Power” and “Empire,” publicly mocked Smollett’s Harlem Pride comeback performance.
According to Fox News, 50 Cent posted a clip from the show on Instagram with the caption: “See I told you ‘POWER’ was the s***, but No you want to watch ‘Empire.’ Now look this its all your fault. LOL.”
Brown didn’t stay quiet. He commented directly on 50 Cent’s post in Smollett’s defense: “I was at this PRIDE event and Jussie killed it. F**k off for using one clip from the entire 30 min show to try bring someone down!”
That exchange, happening in the same week as the relationship confirmation, has kept both men in the news cycle simultaneously, the new boyfriend defending the new relationship from a public pile-on in real time.
Reactions From Fans and the Reality TV World
Reaction across entertainment outlets has ranged from bemused to critical. Coverage from Hollywood Unlocked and Reality Tea framed the pairing as a genuine surprise, noting that neither star had been publicly linked to the other before late June.
On social media, much of the conversation has centered less on whether the relationship is “real” and more on whether it’s appropriate to celebrate it uncritically, given Smollett’s history.
That tension between wishing two adults well in their relationship and not wanting to appear to excuse past actions is the throughline of most of the discourse so far.
What’s Next
Neither Brown nor Smollett has indicated they plan to slow down the public rollout of the relationship. Brown has already used language (“husband,” “forever person”) that goes well beyond typical early-relationship talk, which suggests he intends to keep discussing it publicly rather than retreat from the attention.
