‘Big Brother’ evictee Kamu Kirk responds to anti-drag accusations: ‘I was not trying to offend any community … I love Jason’

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All summer long, Kamu Kirk has been making waves both inside and outside the Big Brother house. As Head of Household, he was responsible for the now-infamous tea party that exposed the game of Jason De Puy, aka Salina EsTitties from RuPaul’s Drag Race. Meanwhile, on social media, BB28 fans were offended by a comment Kamu made — “Miss me with the drag stuff” — that many saw as homophobic, including Big Brother alum Frankie Grande.

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Kamu defends himself against the anti-drag accusations by telling us, “I was not trying to offend any community.” The Arizona-based MMA fighter adds that he “loves” Jason and had a “really good relationship” with him the first two-and-a-half weeks. Kamu hopes to remain friends with the drag queen and wants to “hug it out” with him on finale night.

Read on for our full exit interview with Kamu:

Gold Derby: Welcome to life outside of the Big Brother house, Kamu!

Kamu Kirk: Thank you so much.

You were really close with Rick [Devens], but he did backdoor you with that Diamond Power of Veto. He says it’s because you and Yash [Patel] broke the Wolf Pack alliance by going after Dee [Valladares]. Do you think that’s what put you here ultimately?

I don’t think that I would say that Yash and I broke the Wolf Pack alliance. From my perspective, I think that Dee broke the Wolf Pack alliance. I think that Dee was spreading a lot of lies and was starting to play a little bit of a messy game. Obviously, it’s working for her. She’s still in the house right now. But there were several things that came back to me that Dee was saying. I always tried to include Dee. I was the one that wanted to include Devens and Dee into the Wolf Pack alliance with Yash and myself. Even with the Primaries, which included Taylor [Brown], Yash, Devens, and myself, I also tried to include Dee in that, and Taylor was hesitant to do that. She gave me a little bit of resistance on that, so that’s why we didn’t bring Dee in.

So, I was always cool with Dee. I always looked out for Dee. I felt that, ultimately, that wasn’t reciprocated, which is why I wanted her to go up on the block. But even before I ever said anything about Dee, Yash first told me that he wanted to put Angela [Murray] and Dee up on the block. And then I was like, “Dude, I support that.” If I were HOH, I would’ve done the same. So, I wouldn’t say that we were the ones that really went against the Wolf Pack alliance. I would say that it was Dee.

Jason came into this game as an ordinary person, but he is also a reality icon, just like Angela, Dee, and Devens. Are you aware of this?

No!

He was on two seasons of RuPaul’s Drag Race as a drag queen named Salina EsTitties. And since he’s been out of the house, he’s actually been doing drag as Queen Kamu.

Oh, yes! I’m honored. I’m flattered.

Julie Chen Moonves says she wants to arm wrestle with you. How do we make this happen? And are you going to let her win?

Man, you know what? When I walked out last night, I was like, “Look, I don’t want the smoke. I don’t want to arm wrestle. I just want to hug. I don’t want to go 0-for-3 against the women.” Look, I know my lane. I’m going to stay in my lane and I’m going to protect my arm. I have too much respect for my arm to put it in harm’s way by arm wrestling Ms. Julie Chen Moonves. So, I’m going to avoid that one at all costs. That was so funny that she said that. She has such a good sense of humor, and the back and forth is always funny.

Yeah, I feel like she’s really feeling this cast. I think she likes all of you guys.

Well, we love her.

America did not vote for you for the Time Capsule, but you said you want to come back and play this game again. What would you do differently next time?

What I would do is, the moment I’m suspicious of somebody, I think that I would really start to pivot from that person right off the bat. And the two people that I had red flags with and became suspicious about early on were Devens and Drew [Campbell]. There were things about the way that they played, things about certain conversations and moves, that made me question their motives and who they’re really working with. But then, I would give both of them the benefit of the doubt. And so, if I were to play again, if somebody gave me the wrong idea, I think that I would definitely lay off the gas of that person and distance myself from them early on, so that I don’t end up getting thrown out of the house without making a move against them first.

When you were in the house, you made a comment that offended some people. You said, “Miss me with the drag stuff.” Frankie Grande said it was a “homophobic” comment. How would you defend yourself against that accusation?

I guess what I would say to that is, I was not trying to offend any community. I love Jason. Jason and I had a really good relationship for the first two-and-a-half weeks, before Devens’ nomination blow-up. At one point I was even thinking about forming an alliance with Jason called The Night Shift, with all of us night owls who would always be up when everyone else would go to sleep. Dude, I love Jason. We had really good conversations, good heart-to-hearts. We opened up to each other about things. It was never anything personal with Jason.

What happened was, he started to throw my name out. Even during the blow-up of the nomination ceremony, he threw my name out. When that happened, I was like, “I thought that we were cool. I thought that we were tight. Why would you throw my name out afterwards?” After that, I asked him if he wanted to talk. He said no. He came up to me the next day, apologized, and it was water under the bridge. Then I became HOH, and while I was HOH, several people came up to me saying, “Jason’s gunning after you. He keeps throwing your name out. He says that if he stays, he’s putting you up.” And this was even before I nominated him as a replacement nom. So, at that point I was like, “OK, so Jason obviously doesn’t want to work with me.”

If Jason is spreading a bunch of lies, I’d rather get those lies out in the open so that if Jason stays and wins the Block Buster, because he is a good competitor, then there at least won’t be an entire army of people gunning after me because of lies that he’s spreading about me. With Jason, we were always really tight. And even now, I can separate the personal from the game. I still like Jason a lot. I still hope that when I see him on finale night, we can shake hands, we can hug it out, and we can be friends, because I want nothing but the best for Jason. It just came to a point where our games didn’t align and he was targeting me and throwing my name out. On a human level, I love Jason. I truly wish him nothing but the best.

After you were evicted, Dee won the Head of Household competition. Give me your predictions: Who is she nominating?

Yash, Haley [Thogmartin], and Taylor. Lala is also in trouble. I could see her throwing up Lala. I think that would probably put the least blood on her hands if she puts Lala up. Yash for sure I think is going up. Yash put her up, so she can say, “Yash, you put me up. I’m putting you up.” And then Haley. Right now, she’s the Keanu [Soto from BB27]. I think she’s just going to keep going up until she’s out. She’s going to be filling that third spot. Yash, Haley, and either Taylor or Lala, I think will be going up there. But for sure, Yash and Haley.

Tell me about this “two coconut emojis” that you want people to message you. Is this like a Big Brother dating app?

Yeah, that’s so funny. [Laughs.] Yash, throughout the entire season, during the live feeds, he’d be like, “Hey, if you’re my future wife and you’re watching this right now, send me two kiwi emojis in my DMs.” During the live shows, when you go up there and you’re saying your speech, everybody’s minds are already made up. Everybody knows how they’re voting. It doesn’t really matter what you say. I thought, “If I go home, I just want to at least have some fun in this moment.” I tried to have a good time in the Big Brother house, and I wanted to go out having a good time, making a couple jokes, and enjoying my last few moments, so that’s what I did.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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