Some Pack fans give up game to seek Fab Five wisdom on style, mullets and shaving
By MEGAN TWOHEY
They make up a new demographic that could prove curious to social scientists across the country: Packers fans who love "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy," a popular new show on cable television in which gay men try to transform the fashion, tastes and grooming of style-deficient straight men.
A crowd of about 3,400 predominantly heterosexual men and women from across southeastern Wisconsin took time out of game day Sunday to catch a glimpse of two of the show's stars, Jai Rodriguez and Kyan Douglas, who appeared at the Metropolitan Builders Association's annual Home Builders Expo at the Midwest Airlines Center in downtown Milwaukee.
Couples, families and other viewers of the show arrived with a desire to see if the young men were as cute and charming in person as they are on TV. They bombarded the hosts with questions about style, mullet hairstyles and shaving.
Many said their love of football was matched - in some cases eclipsed - by a love of the show's five hosts, known as the Fab Five, who are appreciated for breaking down barriers between gay and straight cultures while providing tips that prove useful to viewers.
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Because he attended the first of two question-and-answer sessions with the stars, Kaddatz, whose Packers sweat shirt revealed a love of the team, was not in danger of missing the playoff game against the Philadelphia Eagles. But he set the VCR just to be safe.
The Packers fans who were among the 1,200 people to show up for the afternoon session said there was no doubt about it: Seeing Rodriguez and Douglas promised to be so exciting that they planned to miss part of the game or skip it all together.
"You can always watch the Packers on TV," said Lisa Schneider, 31, of New Berlin, who snapped photographs of the two men as they walked on stage to the sound of enthusiastic applause. "It's not every day that you can see these guys in person."
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"I like their attitude," he said. "They know how to interact with straight guys."
The enthusiasm of Wisconsin viewers of "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" was not lost on Rodriguez and Douglas.
In an interview backstage after the first session, Rodriguez said he was touched by the warmth of the crowd, which included around 2,200 fans.
"People from the Midwest are so generous and cool," he said. "Growing up gay, you tend to be leery of straight people. It's always a surprise when straight people are so supportive of us."
