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Joy

She asked her Muslim neighbor about funeral customs, then left with an unexpected gift

This heartfelt video is reminding everyone about the beauty of sharing cultures.

@babybugz213/TikTok

No one would argue that the United States of America has felt…not so united lately. And the results of the 2024 election, distressing headlines about seemingly never-ending political divide, the very real possibility of hard won human rights being snatched away…it all adds to feelings of disillusionment. Not only in the ethos of the American Dream. But of humanity itself.

And yet, its times like these when it becomes more important than ever to seek out moments that suggest otherwise. Those real life acts of compassion, kindness, respect and generosity that help us believe, as a wise 13 fifteen year old once said, that “people are really good at heart.”

This is one of those stories.

In a video captured by a ring doorbell camera (the modern day gadget that gives us glimpses into the soul of humanity on the regular) we see an older white woman approaching her Muslim neighbor.

In case you’re anxious—this is not going to turn into a Karen moment.

Rather, the woman lets her neighbor know that she is going to a Muslim funeral, and is a bit daunted by wearing a headscarf to the ceremony. So she asks for instructions as to how to put it on appropriately.

A truly lovely interaction ensues, where the Muslim neighbor not only gives the woman a demonstration and encourages her to practice wrapping the scarf in real time, but lets the woman keep the item. The conversation ends with the neighbor telling the woman “you look beautiful.” No animosity. No politics. No battle of beliefs. Just two women of different walks of life connecting through kindness.

Watch:

It’s no wonder why this video has been going viral on multiple social media platforms. It’s giving people things to appreciate about a wide range of topics.

Check out some of the lovely comments below:

“Awww. And honestly, her generation don’t think to pull up a tutorial on YouTube, their instinct is to ask somebody that they know. This so genuine and wholesome ❤️”

“As a Muslim, I just knewwwwwwww and expected that she would say keep it. Palestinians are the same with keffiyehs and the hospitality is engrained in both the religion and culture.”

“Being open to being educated about one another is what starts beautiful relationships and understanding. We are all human just trying to make it through this life, on different paths but really, end up in the same place at the end 🌈”

“I wish more people would realize this. All the time on the internet and social media [and] they aren’t seeing real world. Just a small ugly portion that of course is going to be posted on the net to get views. Like Yelp, far more people are likely to post a negative review than to post a positive review imo. Also kindness starts in your communities. It can't happen at a global level without first starting at a small local level.”

“That is the most wholesome interaction I’ve seen between two people, that is beautiful.”

“More of this please.”

Lots of folks chimed in to say that this was the perfect example of what it truly means to be an American.

“This is the America that I was raised up believing. I was taught in school that America was a melting pot and that we all come together to make this country great. I just don't know how we got to where we are today.”

“This is the “melting pot” in full effect. THIS is what makes America beautiful. Learning & *embracing* (key word here) each other’s differences.”

“THIS IS AMERICA. This is when America is great.”

Of course, it’s not like this everywhere. But these moments do happen more often than the news or the internet would have us believe. Times are tough right now—but there is always goodness to be found. And searching for it is just one small way we fight to create a better world.

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more of this please

On July 15, France won the 2018 World Cup, but the real winners of the tournament are immigrants.

The French team won the prestigious tournament for the first time since 1998 with the majority of their team comprising players of African or Arab ancestry.

One of those star players is Kylian Mbappe. At 19, he became the youngest player since Pelé to score a goal at the World Cup final. He won FIFA's "Best Young Player" award after his win against Croatia and has also already been dubbed the next Cristiano Ronaldo.

But what makes Mbappe stand out isn't his impressive footwork and achievements. It's the obstacles he had to overcome.

Mbappe, like a lot of his teammates, comes from an immigrant family: His father originated from Cameroon and his mother, Algeria. But more notably, Mbappe grew up in a banlieue (considered a derogatory term for "suburb") on the outskirts of Paris.

The soccer star's backstory is significant considering that, in recent years, French society has not been too kind to African and Arab immigrants and their children.

Since the 1980s, the French government has zoned off certain banlieues to immigrants coming from African and Arab countries. In these neighborhoods, about 36% of the residents live below the poverty line — tripling the national average. The unemployment rate is at 28%, twice that of France's national average.

It gets even worse for French Muslims, as their society continues to alienate them with head-covering bans and draconian anti-terrorism laws. In fact, while Muslims are only 10% of the French population, they make up 60-70% of France's prison population.

Mbappe serves as a beacon of hope for young children in France's poorest neighborhoods.

Despite being born in the country, the children of African and Arab immigrants still struggle to escape the second-class citizen treatment. Even professional soccer player Karim Benzema, a French-born son of French-born parents, finds that he is not considered to be a true French citizen due to his Algerian background. "If I score, I'm French. If I don't, I'm Arab," Benzema reportedly said a few years ago.

Photo by Matthias Hangst/Getty Images.

But for young kids in banlieues, Mbappe is proof that triumph and acceptance can be in their own fates. In an interview with Al Jazeera, several children from Mbappe's home banlieue of Bondy expressed what France's World Cup win means to them.

"It makes me proud because he comes from the suburbs like me," Yanis Jean, a 14-year-old, told the news organization. "I want to be like him one day."

Loutfi Bechareff, 17, said that Mbappe has now made Bondy a recognizable neighborhood in Paris. "It makes me so happy because Mbappe comes from here so when people ask me where I play, I say AS Bondy and they immediately know where I come from."

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It's no secret that it's a difficult time to be Muslim in the United States.

Take for example the rising rates of anti-Muslim hate crimes. Or the recent Supreme Court ruling upholding the Muslim ban. Or the misguided "anti-Sharia" marches that descend upon U.S. cities several times a year. Or the time when President Trump told CNN that he believes "Islam hates us."

As a result, a lot of Muslims feel as if they're treated as outsiders or enemies of the state.

But believe it or not, Islam has been a part of the U.S. since its founding.

Few people know that the first nation to recognize America's independence from Great Britain was a Muslim country.

In 1777, Sultan Mohammed ben Abdallah — the Muslim ruler of Morocco — wrote a letter to Benjamin Franklin, the U.S. minister to France at the time. The letter let Franklin know that the newly formed country was welcome to use Morocco's trade ports at any time. This made Morocco the first country to seek diplomatic relations with and formally recognize our independence.

And that was just the beginning of a long friendship with Morocco.

A few months after George Washington was inaugurated as our first president, he wrote a letter to ben Abdallah expressing his desire to establish a friendship between the two countries. As a new nation, the U.S. had great difficulty accessing ports in the North African region without coming across pirates and rival ships, and the sultan offered protection and also to spread the good word about the U.S. to neighboring North African countries.

A few years later in 1786, the Moroccan-American Treaty of Friendship was signed by ben Abdallah, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams, among other American diplomats. Today, it's still considered the longest standing unbroken treaty between the United States and any other country.

But as we celebrate the U.S.'s 242nd birthday, let's not forget that Muslims still contribute to American society in modern times, too.

On July 4, a non-profit research group in Washington, D.C. called the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU) released their "Muslims for American Progress" report, which features notable Muslim-American figures and their contributions to this country.

Photo by Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images.

Here's a selection of Muslim contributions highlighted by the ISPU report:

1. Muslims contribute 33% more than the national average in charitable donations.

While just under 769,000 Muslims live in New York City, they donated more than $608 million to charity in 2016. But it's not just money, either — these Muslims also donated about 124,370 pounds in food and 5,500 backpacks in 2017.

2. Muslims have been essential to economic growth and job creation.

In 2016, there were 95,816 Muslim-owned small businesses in NYC, employing a total of at least 251,864 people. Furthermore, Muslim households in the city contributed to approximately $17 billion in consumer spending.

3. Muslim medical professionals contribute a lot to the community.

According to the report, 9.7% of all doctors in NYC are Muslim. In addition to health care providers, Muslim lab technicians and other medical professionals facilitate 6.4 million patient appointments.

But more importantly, a lot of these health care professionals work to serve homeless populations and underprivileged and low-income communities.

Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images.

It's vital now more than ever to use facts like these — as well as the stories behind them — to challenge anti-Muslim stereotypes.

The ISPU compiled the report in response to the alarming fact that more than 80% of media coverage on Muslims and Islam is negative. The context in which Muslims are depicted in U.S. media often fixates almost entirely on terrorism and national security. But that's not an accurate portrait of the Muslim community at all.

"In New York City alone we found Muslims at the forefront of the economy, philanthropy, education, accessible healthcare, STEM, groundbreaking arts, etc," Elisabeth Becker, the report's NYC principal investigator, says via email. But most Americans lack an understanding of this Muslim diversity because they get most of their portrayals through entertainment and media. That's what the ISPU hopes to change.

"We believe that combing quantified data and human stories on these impacts provides a much deeper lens into the realities of Muslim life," says Becker. "In so doing, we can begin to chip away at stereotypes and undermine dominant narratives that erroneously equate Muslims with threat."

Some strides have lately been made to portray Muslims more accurately in media and entertainment.

A lot of celebrity figures like Sarah Silverman and Gigi Hadid have been using their platforms to speak against Islamophobia. Hollywood has been working hard to include Muslim actors or diverse and relatable people like "The Daily Show's" Hasan Minhaj or "The Bold Type's" Adena El Amin.

As Muslim representation in media increases, and as groups like the ISPU work hard to change perception of the Muslim community, we can expect that non-Muslim Americans' understanding of their Muslim neighbors will continue to grow.

Fortunately, for now, the future is looking bright.

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Every year, Pride serves as an opportunity to celebrate inclusivity, tolerance, and acceptance in the LGBTQ community.

Photo by Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images.

For queer Muslims, Pride month is all the more special.

Since traditionalist views of Islam consider homosexuality a sin, it's a common myth that you can't be both queer and Muslim. But every year, tons of practicing Muslims who identify as queer come out and engage in self-affirmation of their complex, intersecting identities.

If there's one thing that Pride month's proved so far, it's that being LGBTQ and Muslim are not mutually exclusive.

Now more than ever, Muslim-American citizens are rallying together to support the LGBTQ people within their community.

A recent study revealed that 51% of Muslim-Americans support marriage equality, according to the May 2018 Public Religion Research Institute study. This is a huge leap from four years ago, when that same percentage were opposed. To put numbers into comparison, according to the study's findings, marriage equality is opposed by 58% of white evangelical Christians and 53% of Mormons.

Queer Islamic scholars and imams have also risen to prominence. Daaiyee Abdullah, based in Washington, D.C., is one of the eight openly gay imams in the world. He is known to offer religious services to Muslim LGBTQ members who have been turned away or cast out from the community.

LGBTQ Muslim representation in entertainment is on the rise, with Tan France's prominent role in "Queer Eye," "The Bold Type's" lesbian character Adena El Amin (played by Nikohl Boosheri), and Mahershala Ali's starring role in "Moonlight."

Plus, several prominent non-queer Muslims that have come forward in support for LGBTQ rights. Reza Aslan, an Iranian-American public intellectual, and comedian Hasan Minhaj penned an open letter urging Muslim-Americans to stand against anti-gay bigotry and support marriage equality. Meanwhile, Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, our country's first Somali-American legislator, marched in her local Pride parade.

Despite this outpouring of visibility, queer Muslims face discrimination at every turn.

Laws in many Muslim-majority countries are influenced by these religiously driven homophobic beliefs. Same-gender marriage is often not only illegal, but being queer can warrant prison time or even death. These threats keep many Muslims in the closet.

In the U.S., with the sweeping tide of Islamophobia, the "not-a-Muslim-ban" Muslim ban, and an administration adamant on rolling back LGBTQ rights, queer Muslims' safety is constantly at risk.

These realities are daunting. But the swell of support during Pride of religious tolerance and LGBTQ acceptance proves that progress is being made.

If all people can set aside differences and see each other as fully human, the future will be bright.

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Incidents of anti-Semitism have been on the rise in Germany.

Things have gotten so bad that — after a recent crime targeting two men because of their religious clothing — the head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany warned Jewish people against wearing a kippa (skullcap).

Far-right groups have tried to shift the blame for these crimes to Muslim immigrants.

The tensions between Muslim and Jewish peoples is a story nearly as old as time itself. Far-right groups in Germany have tried to capitalize on this stereotype by blaming the rise in anti-Semitic hate crimes on Muslims.

But these crimes are not being carried out by Muslims against Jews.

A report from Germany's Interior Ministry shows that the exact opposite is true: 1,381 of the 1,468 reported anti-Semitic crimes in 2016 were in fact carried out by the same far-right groups trying to stir tension between the two communities of faith.

"They try to use the 'We stand with the Jews so we can't be racist, we're not anti-Semitic' line, which is of course what they are." said Dalia Grinfeld, president of the Jewish Student Union of Germany.

Instead of living in fear, people in Germany organized "Kippa March" rallies to show their support for Jewish people.

Thousands of people turned out in Berlin for the event. And among those marching were many Muslims, including women who bravely donned kippa in a stunning display of solidarity.

The display of unity was inspiring and potentially transformative.

This wasn't even the first recent unity act between the Muslim and Jewish communities, who held a bike ride in March to show their support and solidarity.

Photo by Adam Berry/Getty Images

One recent attack showed how horrific and indiscriminate hate crimes can be. A young man attacked in Germany wasn't even Jewish. An Israeli of Arab descent, he'd worn the kippa to highlight the risks Jewish people are currently facing in Germany.

The responses from people of all different backgrounds in Germany has been a loving display of unity. One German newspaper even made a cut out kippa for people to wear to the marches.

Tension between people of different faiths seems to grab all the attention. But it's good to be reminded that there's love in the world .

With far-right groups getting more attention in America and across Europe, it's easy to focus on what's wrong in the world today.

And the very real threat of violence against marginalized groups should never be ignored.

But in moments of fear and hate, we're reminded that compassion and solidarity are a far greater force for good that easily eclipses whatever challenges we face.

Party City is selling adorable decorations for this Muslim holiday.

Everyone should get to enjoy fun, festive, affordable decorations.

Party City just became the first major U.S. retailer to offer a product line dedicated to Ramadan.

And the decorations are coming right on time.

This year, Ramadan — the holiest month on the Islamic calendar — begins on May 15 and ends on June 14. During the month, Muslims around the world fast during the day to commemorate the first revelation of the Quran to Muhammad.

At the end of Ramadan, Muslims join together with family and friends to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, the culminating celebration of food, family, and fun that lasts from sundown until the next evening.

With an estimated 3.45 million Muslims in the U.S., we’re thinking it’s about time there were some decorations more readily available for this celebration.

Offering Ramadan products in such a recognizable store sends a huge message: Muslim holidays are important.

Photo by Michele Mossop/Getty Images.

In the United States — and all over the world — decorations can be an incredibly important part of holiday celebrations. After Thanksgiving is over (and sometimes sooner), Christmas decorations going up has become an experience as American as apple pie for many people.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a Christian or Jewish American who hasn’t decorated with family and friends for Christmas, Hanukkah, or Easter — all Christian or Jewish holidays. It’s a terrific tradition that many Americans cherish from childhood, and it’s one that Muslims should be able to participate in for their own culture.

Photo by Justin Merriman/Getty Images.

Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case. In 2011, a conservative Christian group successfully pressured Lowe’s to pull its ads from the TLC show, “All-American Muslim.” After receiving complaints, organic grocery store Whole Foods distanced themselves from a Ramadan promotion that included free giveaways. Many other major companies have had similar responses to bigoted groups, making Party City’s move all the more meaningful.

By prominently displaying Ramadan decorations, the company is making it clear that Muslims deserve to feel seen, human, and celebrated.

Photo by Michele Mossop/Getty Images.

While marginalized groups certainly deserve and benefit from substantive policy changes that can improve their livelihood, simple, non-policy-oriented moves like this remind us of something we sometimes forget: It’s not just about policy making — it’s about normalizing Muslims experiences and culture in our stores, media, and society.

Muslims deserve to enjoy normal human experiences, like decorating for a major holiday season, and spend time with their families, enjoy holiday parties, and celebrate their cultural days of reverence just anyone else.

Decorations — a common symbol of joy and festivity during a holiday season — should be a treat that every religious group gets to indulge in.

Photo by Justin Merriman/Getty Images.

By recognizing just how vast the Islamic faith is — and how much the other two Abrahamic religions have in common with Islamic theology and celebratory activities — Party City’s product line reminds us that Muslims are thriving and living their best lives.

Party City offering Ramadan decoration materials moves one step closer to normalizing a major holiday in an all-American store. Thousands of Muslim families will get to benefit around the country.

We weren’t paid to write this post (we would tell you if we were!). We just think it’s a really cool move by Party City!

Tan France wasn't supposed to be a TV star.

But as of publication, the fashion designer has over 183,000 Instagram followers and a number of giddy, straight husbands asking to take his photo to show their wives at his local grocery store in Utah. "I can't walk the street without somebody stopping me," he explains earnestly, still surprised that complete strangers would recognize him. (Maybe it's the hair?)‌‌‌‌

‌Photo by Paige Soviet.‌

France, who'd never held a job in the entertainment world before, says he was reluctant to audition for "Queer Eye," a Netflix reboot based off the original Bravo series, "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy," that's become an overnight cultural phenomenon since premiering in early February.

But France went to the audition anyway. And now he's a member of the show's Fab Five — the stylish, sincere queer guys who bombard their "heroes'" homes and make over their closets, diets, and, really, entire existences in just a few days.

‌Photo courtesy of Netflix.‌

The reason France ended up taking the offer, he says, had nothing to do with fame or fortune. It was the series' shooting location, of all things, that sealed the deal.

Unlike the original, the new "Queer Eye" found its heroes to "make better" in deep red, rural Georgia. For France — a British-Muslim immigrant to the U.S. with Pakistani roots — the opportunity to build bridges and befriend straight, southern Republicans was an opportunity he simply couldn't pass up.

I sat down with France to chat about the first season of "Queer Eye," what it's like representing gay Muslims on the world stage, and which member of the Fab Five he secretly loves best.

I'm so happy to talk to you. I went through season one of "Queer Eye" so quickly.‌‌‌‌

The response has been out of this world!‌‌‌‌

How so? ‌‌‌‌

I don't know if you know, but I'm the only one who hasn't ever worked in the entertainment industry before. I never had any desire to do so. I had to be convinced to go audition for this show. So for me, it's been really shocking. I receive, on average, a thousand DMs a day.

Oh my gosh.

Yeah. It's insane. It's lovely, lovely, and I'm very grateful, but it's insane. And then not really being able to go out of the house as much anymore, unless I'm either really dressed up or have a hat and shades on — that's been a major adjustment.

That's wild. And for many Americans, you're either the first or one of the first gay Muslims they've ever seen on TV. What's that been like for you?

I just am unapologetically myself, so it wasn't something I was really cognizant of until people really started asking about it the past few weeks. And so I've been like, oh shit, maybe I should be paying more attention to that [laughs]. People all over the world have been reaching out and saying, "I've never seen a version of myself on TV." And that's really powerful.

How comfortable are you taking on that role?

I don't feel uncomfortable because I am who I am, and I don't make any apologies for it. That's the case for all of [the Fab Five].

But I've never seen myself as any kind of role model or trailblazer, and I still don't. I don't like that kind of responsibility because I don't expect that people should live their lives a certain way because someone else lives their life a certain way. However, I do love giving exposure to a community that really hasn't had the representation it needs.

As a Muslim, how did it feel helping Cory in episode three? He was a big Trump supporter. Was helping guys like him something you considered before heading to Georgia to shoot?

It was something I thought about a lot before accepting the offer. And actually, it was the reason I took the show.

If the show had been filmed in New York or L.A., I don't think it would have been as enticing for me. [The original "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy"] was wonderful for its time. It moved the gay community forward and it gave us exposure we never had before. However, I didn't want just the original version back. I wanted it to be more [representative] of how we've progressed as a community.

So having the opportunity to work with a bunch of Republican people [in the South] was the most enticing part of this job for me. It wasn't about making them "pretty" — that's secondary. My job on the show is making sure I'm having very open, blunt conversations with people without hiding who I am.

Unfortunately, some of the conversations didn't make it [into the episodes]. Like, Cory and I had a very lengthy conversation in the car about Trump and the fact he doesn't love gays or immigrants, and I represent both of those things. [Trump's] made some derogatory comments about the Middle East, and again, I represent that.

Photo by Paige Soviet.

I read that Tom had at one point suggested you were a "terrorist"? But then he ended up giving you a yellow rose?

He sure did. You've seen the full [first] episode ... right?

Yes.

So I had a driving scene in the car with Tom that didn't make it [into the final cut], where we're shooting the shit — just talking about everything while I was driving — and then it came up in conversation that I am Middle Eastern. He hadn't realized I was Middle Eastern. So his first question was, "You're not a terrorist, are you?"

Wow.

Yeah. That was really important for me to be able to address that in a certain way where he didn't feel like he couldn't ask that question — and I told him he can't ask that question again.

There's a way of asking questions to find out what you're wanting to find out without being so offensive. There's a certain level of tact that's required [pauses, laughs] ...

Sorry, what was the rest of your question?

I asked about the yellow rose.

Oh, right, yes! Sorry, sometimes I go off on a tangent and I don't remember where I was going! So we had a really open conversation and he actually asked that question [about being a "terrorist"].

We ended up becoming really close. I love Tom. By the end of the week before I left, when the cameras weren't around, he came over and said, "I got a rose for you, which is yellow — the color of friendship. And I want you to know that I wasn't trying to be offensive by the question I asked. Now I understand you."

He said, "I want to have these conversations with other people. I love knowing that now I have a Middle Eastern friend, an immigrant friend, a liberal friend, that I never thought I would have had."

Oh my gosh.

I know!

Tom was definitely one of my favorites. I also loved A.J. too.

I loved A.J. I mean, it helped that he was really attractive [laughs]. But he was such a sweetheart.

That's awesome. Well, those scenes with Tom sound so powerful. I wish I'd gotten to see them.

You know, here's the thing: We're not trying to make a political show. I guess we make political statements by the nature of who we are. But I think [the yellow rose scene with Tom] would have been way too heavy. Baby steps.

Sometimes, subtlety can make the show accessible for a lot of people who may not have tuned in otherwise.

Exactly. And they can make their own assumptions. We don't necessarily have to ram anything down their throats.

Photo by Paige Soviet.

So how about some fun questions?

Yeah!

I know the Fab Five are all close with one another. But who do you get along with the best?

OK, I will actually be honest with you. I love them all. When we're together, we have the best time. I don't know if you follow my Instagram or if you don't —

I do.

I mentioned in a post that people seem to have really responded well to in my Instagram story: Antoni sat on my lap, and I [said], "It doesn't matter how many chairs there are in a room, my lap is always Antoni's seat." And that's true. It doesn't matter what's going on, if there are a lot of people around us, we are always so affectionate. We love each other very much.

There are differences between some of [the Fab Five] because, for example, some of the boys like to go experience the night life and go to bars and clubs. And me and Antoni, neither of us drink alcohol. So it made it so much more organic for us to build a bond quickly, because when those guys are out going to bars and clubs, Antoni and I were cooking in each other's apartments and watching "The Great British Baking Show."

I now go on vacations with his family. We basically married the same person [laughs], so they get along really well. We're all very, very close, but me and Antoni formed a bond like no other.

That's amazing. Can we talk about Antoni for a second?

Everyone wants to talk to me about Antoni! You love him, I know. [laughs]

I do! But he seems to be the most controversial Fab Five member. Is he just the talentless eye candy on the show, like some people have said?

OK, wait, Robbie, let me tell you this. Because you are now the third person in the last couple days who've asked me this.

All I get all day is DMs from people saying, "Oh my gosh, Antoni won't reply to my DMs; can you tell him that I love him?" I'm like, "OK, get a grip, everybody. He's not just a piece of meat [laughs]!"

Maybe I am jaded because we're so close, but I see him as the heart of the show. Truly. He's got a way of connecting with our heroes — that's what we call the clients we help — he has a way of connecting with heroes like none of us can. He's so truly genuine.

And look, people can have their own opinions with what he does with food. But in the first episode where he made Tom guacamole, he actually made a full meal. But we've only got time to show one thing! He's actually an amazing chef. He cooked for me almost every night because our apartments [when we were shooting on location] were right next door to each other.

For the record, I'm pro-Antoni.

Good! Honestly, no joke, he's probably the best person I've met in my entire life. Like, he's an angel sent down from heaven.

Photo by Paige Soviet.

So, I'm already craving season two. Any news?

OK, here's the thing. Netflix doesn't tell us anything [laughs]. All we can say is, we hope it's doing well. Instagram's fucking blown up, so I assume that's a good indication of how the show's doing.

It seems like it's doing great, but I don't know if I'm just being trapped in my own gay bubble.

[laughs] You know what's funny though? In Utah [where France lives], they have a very high Mormon population. And when I'm out in the grocery store, one of my favorite things in the world to do is go to the grocery store. For a British person, coming to America and seeing the ridiculous abundance in a grocery store is fascinating.

And every time I'm there now — at least three or four times — I'll get stopped by a man who I assume is straight and wants to take a picture with me to show his wife and kids. It's always straight men! It's always straight men.

That's so funny!

I know, I love it.

That about covers my questions, Tan. Is there anything you want to add?

I'd love to go back to the relationship thing with the other boys, because you're the only one who's asked who I am closest with.

Of course.

I am the closest with Antoni, but I never expected that my colleagues and I would become my best friends. Of course, every now and then there's going to [be a fight]. Actually, I like that we argue every now and then, because it's usually about the hero and what we want to do that episode — we have those kinds of arguments. And that makes for a better show.

But on the whole, [the show creators] chose five people who could be, and thankfully are, the closest of friends. And I think that's why the show works so well.

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.