Jonathan Van Ness & ALOK | SXSW 2022

Jonathan Van Ness (they/he/she) is an Emmy-nominated television personality, New York Times best-selling author, podcaster, and hairstylist to the stars. He stars on Netflix’s Emmy Award-winning reboot series “Queer Eye,” where he shines as the hair guru and self-care advocate, and he is the host and executive producer of the Netflix series “Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness,” based on Jonathan’s popular podcast of the same name. He was a 2020 Primetime Emmy nominee for 'Outstanding Host for a Reality or Competition Program' along with his "Queer Eye" cast mates. Jonathan also starred on the Emmy-nominated web series “Gay of Thrones,” a witty social commentary series recapping HBO’s “Game of Thrones.” Launched in 2013, the series wrapped its eighth and final season last year and garnered Emmy nominations in 2016, 2018 and 2019 for ‘Outstanding Short Form Variety Series.’ Jonathan also continues to work on his passion project, his podcast “Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness,” a weekly exploration of all the things Jonathan is curious about. The podcast was named one of the Top Podcasts of 2018 by Time Magazine, won the iHeart Radio Award for Best LGBTQ Podcast, and was a 2020 People’s Choice Award nominee for Best Pop Podcast. Jonathan was also a 2020 People's Choice Award nominee for 'Favorite Reality TV Star' for the second year in a row. Jonathan recently completed his first worldwide comedy tour “Jonathan Van Ness: Road to Beijing,” which included a sold-out show at Radio City Music Hall in NYC, as well as stops in London, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. Jonathan will resume his comedy tour in the fall of 2021. In September 2019, he released his revelatory memoir, Over The Top: A Raw Journey To Self-Love, now a New York Times Best-Seller. Over The Top won the 2019 Goodreads Choice Award for Best Memoir & Autobiography and has been named a must-read book of 2019 by The New York Times, TIME Magazine and NPR to name a few. His appearance on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" to discuss the book, living with HIV and HIV stigma earned a GLAAD Media Award for 'Outstanding Variety or Talk Show Episode.' Jonathan is passionate about using his platform and voice for change. As an avid supporter of the LGBTQ+ community, he worked closely with Planned Parenthood and The Trevor Project on campaigns tied to the release of his book that focused on removing the shame and stigma that comes along with talking about sexual health, as well as the long-lasting effects of bullying and how to overcome it. In December 2019, Jonathan made history as the first non-female solo cover star of Cosmopolitan UK in 35 years. In March 2020, Jonathan released his first children's picture book, Peanut Goes For The Gold, about a gender non-binary guinea pig who does everything with their own personal flare. Most recently, Jonathan launched JVN, a haircare line that sees all beauty, serves all beauty, and honors the uniqueness in each of us. Driven to change the beauty industry from within, Jonathan worked with Amyris, a leading synthetic biotechnology company and bio manufacturer of clean, sustainable, natural ingredients. Together, they developed scientifically-backed haircare formulas, combining the best in effective and clean ingredients, creating an innovative, first of its kind haircare collection that celebrates hair health and the uniqueness of each person.
ALOK (they/them) is an internationally acclaimed writer, performer, and public speaker. As a mixed-media artist their work explores themes of trauma, belonging, and the human condition. They are the author of Femme in Public (2017), Beyond the Gender Binary (2020), and Your Wound/My Garden (2021). They are the creator of #DeGenderFashion: a movement to degender fashion and beauty industries and have been honored as one of HuffPo’s Culture Shifters, NBC’s Pride 50, and Business Insider’s Doers. Over the past decade they have presented at more than 600 venues in 40 countries, most recently headlining the 2021 New York Comedy Festival.
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[@13jakill]

I really am jealous of them being able to outwardly express themselves as they feel like it day to day. I always feel like I’m kinda stuck in the same work uniform and same garb - the only thing holding me back is fear of judgement. JVN and Alok give me hope that there’s more for me. Soooo. Lot of the comments here are pretty negative unfortunately. You can tell quickly that most people watched maybe 5 minutes and used that to write a negative opinion, didn’t really listen - they already had and a rationalization of what they already felt rather than open up to something new and integrate a new perspective or hear the more universally agreable things either JVN or Alok said. “Narcissism” gets thrown around a lot because most people have little reference or experience of what self-love is. I learned from a young age from my parents that loving who I was was selfish/indulgent. It was later in life I realized that they were wrong. Loving myself and helping others is why we are here. So if you’re scrolling and you see a lot of negativity - just know that it’s a lot of people who aren’t there yet in their journey. Two of us can see the same video and choose to see love or fear… it’s just a matter of where you’re at rn. Love you, wherever and whoever you are.

[@jvn]

Thank you for having me!!

[@topcat2033]

Wow, just wow! JVK You have such an intelligent way with words & your execution of facts and emotions translates with so much power..... please please go into politics, we will all vote for you 🙌🏼 💛💛💛

[@lab4389]

What a great interview! It certainly helped me to understand your (respective) journeys, and to have more compassion. 💟☮️

[@StoryCity]

Love everything from JVN! And now have another intelligent human in ALOK to follow 😀 Thank you for the deep and wonderful conversation it was ❤‍🔥❤‍🔥 "You're in control of your life and your joy, don't let anyone take that from you"

[@jg6159]

@@StoryCity Alok intelligent? Do you know anything about him? I'd do a bit of reading my friend...

[@prozierozie5692]

@@jg6159 Give it up hunny, how's your day going?

[@Letters2indigo]

Thank you I love you

[@gangapoornima]

I love Alok......and J.Van Ness is great.although i hated Queer Eye, the decorating commercial, but he is so .....kind, and cute !

[@rcmit5609]

OH WE SEE YOU!

[@anelburshakbayeva5750]

❤❤❤

[@vanshikathakur]

❤

[@vinblack85]

This is what a man is now…yaaaaassss kween. Love ur dress 👗

[@reubenalfredsaggar4504]

31:30 - 32:45 (i'm writing this down to come back to later!)

[@RightCitified]

Thank you! I just listened to this part !!!

[@hadhad129]

please please please please i beg them make bigger shoe sizes my soul cries everytime i see these cute heels/wedges i can't wear or bearly would fit in won't work, i just had a graduation 3 days ago and these gorgeous glossy white, sparkly, or gold, super shiny to die for heels my soul was getting crushed in jealousy :( at least 1 size bigger i can like with maybe but 2 sizes ideally go up to 13-14-15 even.

[@Tony78454]

I mean go make them and get rich

[@RightCitified]

Be joyous! Yes!!

[@jenniferwolf545]

Thank You ..... such beautiful people ...... 🙏🙏💗💗 Namaste

[@rcmit5609]

more narcissism than some people can handle

[@zoraruen7833]

Thank you both for this awesome discussion ! ✨

[@jossyjaycoff]

this is a healing practice. listening to them both means allowing for space to exist within ourselves. so grateful to witness such beauty unfold in this conversation. my gosh. love all the way, healing and a beautiful wide horizon of possibilities.

[@randallplaisted4062]

Word salad much?

[@jtstevenson81]

@@randallplaisted4062 I was thinking the same thing. "Allowing for space to exist within ourselves" might be the most pseudo intellectual statement I've ever heard.

[@Mrtassan]

"Because I have died many deaths too.. "

[@robertpaul212]

31:26 powerful

[@Rebsosaurus]

Two beautiful human beings with expansive minds, helping others to live their truth. “Ordinary” is a construct. People who are sheep 🐑 will never understand.

[@Tony78454]

Also extra"ordinary" is a construct. Someone being special or expressing as anything is a construct. Why do you think constructs exist?

[@rosarionieto3783]

Uff! qué par de insoportables...

[@kriskabin]

It's wonderful that they're interviewing each other. Who knows better than them the questions & points to address. 👍👏✊️ ( Now we need Trans masculine people's visibility & perspectives represented.)

[@joyindrelie6715]

This was a great conversation! ❤️

[@chitramenon6848]

Love from India,Jonathan You inspire me

[@juditcsefalvai2143]

Just ❤️💋

[@fallyn2920]

weird how the guy calling little girls kinky is still having a platform.

[@richardcarte]

Yep, scary and sad :(

[@lethalinjection145]

if you did any actual fucking research you'd know that article was co-written and alok did not write that part. fucking dumbass.

[@kevinhiggins85]

But we should celebrate you expressing your judgment ? Sure- you get to do you, too!

[@deadlichaos]

yes, very weird indeed

[@fallyn2920]

@@kevinhiggins85 a line must be drawn somewhere, and sexualizing children is something abhorrent indeed. If you are in defense of it, you may have lost your mind.

[@ygp47]

hahahahaha what are these two

[@samyljones3871]

HUMANS WHO YOU BASIC ASS WILL NEVER MEET. LOSER

[@vjr5074]

FREAKS

[@reb8951]

@@samyljones3871 oh believe me I don’t think he wants to meet these things, just wtaching through the screen is making me want to be sick

[@MrPpericles]

I thought this was a skit with men dressed up as 🤡 women

[@Shanil291]

Did you watch past the first minute? @6:28 "people are going to be more upset that there're two men in dresses speaking than they are about the housing crisis"

[@noellejohnson2845]

Two INCREDIBLY BEAUTIFUL humans! Such love, such compassion, such intelligence and such strength! You two should be running the world💜💜💜💜😘😘😘

[@Me-vl6jl]

Two grown men wearing toddler dresses is beautiful?

[@tusharpatney2556]

@@Me-vl6jl 👏

[@kn0wr3zz]

They are mentally ill. They are compassionate , they are clout chasers

[@6lmao9]

lmao

[@OohTarquin]

Love your sarcasm 😂

[@pricesymonej]

why do they talk like high schoolers??

[@RafaelCosta-fy7tb]

They're mentally handicapped

[@111bep]

Didn't Alok call little girls kinky?

[@larkascending]

How does anyone take these men seriously?

[@anehelramirez8899]

We don’t. And I’m pretty sure they don’t even take themselves seriously as well. And that is one of the greatest virtues of them, also what makes them brilliant. Probably you should stop taking yourself so seriously, honey. Sending you some love.

[@eliaol4231]

@@anehelramirez8899 exactly🦋🫂

[@Humanaut.]

Every Person, no matter who they are, has been granted the exact same rights before the law. Trans people have the same rights as everybody else - and that's exactly how it should be.

[@Rebsosaurus]

LOL delusional

[@igloozoo3771]

They don't automatically have the right to women's only spaces just because they declare themselves to be women.

[@printempseternel]

God ! It's so refreshing to watch you beauties 💚

[@calistafalcontail]

2 unhinged man and one of them made pedo comments a while ago but you all chose to ignore it....these are 2 grown males looking like clowns.

[@andresalaf]

God? Are you kidding

[@printempseternel]

@@andresalaf Yes,of course ! Isn't life so funny ? Sending you love my dear 💚

[@sWejk]

🤮

[@stilianifakidaraki3724]

I love them both so much! I want you both as my frieeends!!! :**

[@troods8110]

Awww ❤️ me too! Are they not just... AMAZING HUMANS! People fear out of ignorance, it's sad. NO ONE CAN STEAL YOUR MOTHERFUCKING JOY!! Love you 🤗 ❤️ just be kind folks, why is that such a difficult concept? I had an incredibly different life, possibly to the point where I could have been a bloody monster. I was bullied, attacked and shamed.. I had to learn to forgive, I'll never forget the violence, the hatred, the addictions, the abuse... I attempted to end my life many times.. thank God for folks like Jonathan and Alok.. ❤️🤗 just be kind man.. we ALL smile in the same language. Love and kindness 💗

[@stepharcnciel]

Beautiful discourse

[@6lmao9]

narcissism is a hell of a drug

[@user-fn7en2tw7h]

What did one narcissist say to the other?

[@kerinwills]

We'll have to wait for one to answer you to know for sure, won't we?

[@michelleblancard655]

Et bien voilà pourquoi l'Amérique est complètement perdue. Vous nous faites plus rêver avec vos hybridation c'est terrifiant de voir ces choses qui se pavane en robes de femmes.

[@logiconlifesupport1899]

Attention seeking made flesh

[@MFYouTube683]

I‘m a gay 33 year-old man and I‘ve seen society go from mostly hostile and backwards during my teens to being very open and accepting. Until the debate about gender was made the sole focus of all 🏳️‍🌈 and all of a sudden I found myself 'represented' by people like Alok, the community now has to defend trans women winning women‘s college scholarships and teenagers getting surgical gender-affirming care, while laws are changed making it an offense to misgender people who self-identify as xe/xir. All I ever get from the trans community is a reminder that being a white cis male is a privilege and that we as «cis-allies» are not doing enough. The 🏳️‍🌈 movement builds on 60 years of political activism and sacrifices from predominantly gay, bi and lesbian activists. They were successful over the decades, getting society to welcome us living our love protected under the law. I could really see and feel change. What is happening now is not that. It is no longer about us being part of society, loving whom we do protected by the law and accepted as equals, it is about very basic truths and language that all of society is demanded to change counter-intuitively in many cases, it is about attention and power forced on all of society based on a very absolutist extremism, that has nothing to do with same-sex love and equality. I think it’s important that trans people get access to the transition they choose, that they’re supported by competent professionals and that we as a society set up a legal framework and process, that presents a thorough evaluation of the best way ahead. I will not accept however, that men like Alok, his guest and what they choose to present and identify as, how in this narcissistic recital of shallow generalisations and insufferable affirmations, talking predominantly about themselves and _gripping_ ideas like polyamorous relationships and / or genderless identities as some form of higher ideal. We, the human species, are mammals. Our sex is binary. Same-sex orientation is something that occurs in most mammal species. I recognise that there are rare exceptions. The Gender Identity lived and discussed in this video has nothing to do with me. I don’t want representation, we have brilliant and wonderful people from our community doing that without having to reduce themselves to just being gay like Ronan Farrow, Tom Daily, Kristen Steward or straight allies like Daniel Radcliffe, Barbra Streisand and Ayaan Hirsi Ali, fighting for a debate and more acceptance where it is really needed. Alok gave an interview to the WSJ after SCOTUS ended Roe v Wade and - ... talked about the impact it has on trans and gender-non-confirming people, I mean - who cares about half the population affected by this, when Alok can make it about himself? These people are disgusting. Their behaviour reflects a complete failure of recognition for the world around them and the real problems and challenges we face. I have been accused of being trans -and NB-phobic. I am not scared or hate them. I am a bloke who likes blokes, in masculine clothes and without lipstick. LGB DROP THE TQIAS+. I AM NOT QUEER. I AM GAY. GENDER IS NO SOCIAL CONSTRUCT GENDER IS NOT A SPECTRUM GENDER = SEX + SEX = BINARY. NON-BINARY IS A CONSTRUCT. NB & TRANS IDENTITIES ARE AN ABSOLUTIST CULT AND THE DETRANSITION RATES ARE EXPLODING AMONG TRANSTRENDING TEENS. VIOLENT TRANS-EXTREMISTS ARE DESTROYING WOMEN’S RIGHTS, ACCEPTANCE FOR LGBS + REAL TRANS PEOPLE, WANT REPRESENTATION EVERYWHERE YET ARE THE WORST REPRESENTATION FOR THEMSELVES AND THE LGBTQIA THE USE AS A SHIELD. STOP IT, SAY THE TRUTH. FIGHT.

[@Earth098]

If you are a gay man, she does not represent you at all. In fact I think transgender and gender non confirming categories should be separated from LGB categories. Because, the first is about gender expression and the latter is all about sexual preference.

[@anehelramirez8899]

Omg so much hate fulfilling all your inner self. I hope you can heal soon.

[@MFYouTube683]

@@anehelramirez8899 not hate. Not everything is hate speech and transphobia. Objective truth based on empirically probable facts is what we need more of. And yes, sexual orientation and - to indulge you - gender expression should have been separated a long time ago.

[@anehelramirez8899]

@@MFKZbin683 This is a journey. I hope you will soon embrace what your very self is, and also respect and not neglect what others are. Have a great life :)

[@Earth098]

@@anehelramirez8899 I don't agree with his views in trans people, and certainly trans rights does not affect women's rights at all. However, I don't understand what you are talking about accepting himself? He said he is a gay man, which has nothing to do with gender expression, as I mentioned earlier.

[@lax1992]

Anyone can express themselves but these guys look hideous

[@eliaol4231]

They look beautiful, bestie ❤

[@lax1992]

@@eliaol4231 no, hideous, I´m right, you´re wrong

[@kerinwills]

Then close your eyes... oh wait, they already are!

[@viggtensen4293]

What even are these bizarre creatures? Why can't they lead a normal life like ordinary people? Why do they have to put on such a show and act so weird? Where is this world heading to? Tomorrow we may have people who say they are actually animals and not humans and identify as a dog or a cat? Seriously, what has the world come to?? Whats wrong with people??

[@troods8110]

Then don't watch.. sinple.

[@mcegypt20]

Why are you so ok with being “ordinary” instead of being individual? That’s the better question

[@cassidyvisco7898]

I think 32:24 answers your questions in some ways

[@nigelsimon8865]

What's wrong with you?

[@paulchiuk]

I get you. But normal is insufferable, normal is indoctrination, normal is uniformity, normal is anonymity, normal renders people invisible, normal worships stereotypes, normal ignores individuality, normal scapegoats individuals, normal is bland, normal is afraid of difference, normal is monoculture, normal needs to get a life. Look in the mirror. Are you normal? I hope not!

[@madelynbaum3307]

This is so grossss y’all making trans look bad

[@kerinwills]

Who made you the arbiter of what trans looks like? Do you even know any trans people?

[@jasonthewatchmansson8873]

They are both putting on a lot of weight.

[@bgonline3401]

WHAT EVEN IS THAT?

[@luyyyu]

🤢🤮🤮🤮

[@miguelaquino6587]

Freak show 😂

[@reb8951]

Ew

[@kerinwills]

Back at you, sweetie.

[@dewaynedemps2663]

Blasphemy

[@vjr5074]

VOMIT

[@Tom-ul3gb]

Human Right for All please 🤍 !

[@tusharpatney2556]

iam alok brother 💩