Big Brother Season 28 housemate Kamu Kirk is facing intense backlash after a video resurfaced on social media in which he appeared to joke about the death of George Floyd while filming a person being arrested outside his home.
Kirk, a 32-year-old MMA fighter whose full name is Gabriel Xavier Kamuela Kirk, posted the video to Instagram in December. In it, a person can be heard screaming "I can't breathe" as police officers struggled to get them into a vehicle. Kirk chuckled as he narrated the scene, then smiled and said, "Bro thinks he's George Floyd."
The phrase referenced the dying words of George Floyd, a Black man killed in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in May 2020 when police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for nearly ten minutes during an arrest. Chauvin was fired the following day and later convicted of unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. He was sentenced to 22 and a half years in state prison.
The video remained in Kirk's Instagram highlights as of Thursday night. Kirk also joked at the end of it that he planned to take the parking spot the arrested person had been occupying.
Fans demand eviction
On X, viewers flooded posts with calls for Kirk's removal from the Big Brother house, with many describing him and the video as racist. One user urged followers to tag TMZ, which had published a copy of the video. "This man is currently playing Big Brother, and media backlash is the only way where production would punish Kamu," the post read.
Another poster wrote that they expected to see an announcement that Kirk had been removed "ASAP." Several fans also criticized the overall quality of Season 28, saying the show had gotten off to a poor start.
Some viewers questioned how CBS could have cast Kirk without thoroughly reviewing his social media history. One viewer theorized the opposite, suggesting the casting team may have recruited him because of his controversial posts.
The Daily Mail reached out to representatives for CBS Entertainment and Kirk for comment but did not receive a response.
Additional controversy
Following the resurfaced video, fans dug further into Kirk's social media and found that he had liked posts from accounts that identified themselves as Christian nationalists who wanted the United States governed as a Christian country. Other screenshots appeared to show Kirk liking right-wing posts critical of Islam and Muslims.
Fans also reposted a photo of the US Capitol that Kirk had shared in his Instagram highlights, captioned "Who's storming with me?" Many interpreted it as a reference to the January 6, 2021 events in Washington, DC.
Kirk had already drawn criticism earlier in the week after referring to fellow housemate Jason De Puy, a drag queen who has previously competed on RuPaul's Drag Race and RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars, as a "zesty bestie" on Wednesday's episode. He also made anti-drag comments about De Puy on Big Brother live feeds, saying to Survivor alumnus Rick Devens, "Bro, miss me with the drag stuff. I'm still an MMA guy, and I have an image to uphold."
De Puy was voted out of the house at Kirk's urging on the latest episode, which disappointed several fans.
Frankie Grande speaks out
Frankie Grande, an openly gay singer and actor who previously appeared on Big Brother and is the older half-brother of Ariana Grande, publicly blasted Kirk on X over the anti-drag remarks. Grande wrote that Kirk and another housemate should be removed from the house immediately and that the conversation made him sick.
Grande later reposted Kirk's George Floyd video, writing that Kirk was a "monster" and demanding to know why he was still in the house. In a follow-up post, Grande shared Kirk's photo of the US Capitol and urged fans to evict Kirk and skip the night's live eviction.
