In Defense of Joseph McRae: Project Runway’s Obsession With Humbling Him Is Getting Weird

Project Runway keeps trying to depict Joseph McRae as the villain for the second season in a row, and it’s not working.

We’re spending way too much of this season with the other designers and Law Roach trying to “humble” Joseph McRae, but at this point, it just leaves me asking the most important question: Why?

Joy is a radical form of defiance, and confidence is the armor in which the best of us learn how to wear to function; since when is that something worth denigrating rather than celebrating?

There are a host of reasons why Project Runway isn’t making it work this time around, and we’ve outlined them ad nauseum.

But one of the more frustrating components of this season has been what feels like a forced desire to somehow make the confident, flamboyant, expressive Joseph McRae some villain.

And it’s for the most asinine of reasons, with an effort that is so outlandish and unwarranted that it’s starting to feel like some form of bullying.

It feels like Project Runway brought him back to the series for the sole purpose of trying to have him publicly bullied, but because he won’t allow it by rising above it, those transparent efforts are backfiring.

Why is Joseph McRae the focus of everyone wanting to criticize him? Because he’s confident, bordering on arrogant, not unlike most contestants on the series, and because of his signature style.

The fixation on Joseph would make more sense if he were doing something entirely unique from any other contestant in the history of Project Runway.

But at this rate, it’s boiling down to the fact that he has a personality that not everyone enjoys, and he’s great at what he does, so people see him as a threat.

He’s not a perfect person, by any means. His confidence does veer into arrogance; at times he doesn’t always listen to the advice of the judges or critics, and he can overdo his signature style of billowed sleeves.

But none of those things justify the constant attack and hyper-scrutiny against Joseph. And it’s been odd to see the likes of Law Roach constantly bring up that people didn’t get along with him last season either.

It’s been especially weird when you consider that Joseph McRae has genuinely grown as a designer since his last bout in the series, and he’s also toned down a great deal.

Sure, he’s a big personality, but so are many other contestants. Why is his being a big personality suddenly some indictment?

The criticism of Joseph’s personality, namely his arrogance, feels particularly weird in a season where we have someone like Bryan who is equally arrogant and has been more overt onscreen with constantly chiding other contestants, namely Bi.

And the criticism of Joseph for his signature style is frustrating when you consider no one directs a similar criticism toward fan (and personal) favorites Jude and Naheim.

They’re both extremely talented and have such a unique style, sense of identity, and perspective in their designs that you can tell every single time their work comes down the runway.

So how exactly is what Joseph is doing any different? How do you tell when having a fashion identity is what makes you a creative genius and fabulous designer, versus when it’s a problem and reflects someone who can’t step outside of their comfort zone?

And then there’s whatever is going on between Law and Joseph McRae. It feels like a one-sided beef no one told us about, and what’s been alarming about Law’s fixation on Joseph is that the motivations behind it don’t feel well-intended.

Is he really trying to shape Joseph into a great designer, or is he just trying to break his spirit?

It’s hard not to see it as the latter when, even in a moment where he invites Joseph to be vulnerable, Law cuts him off and continues to lob catty lines at him as if they’re chasing viral moments rather than authenticity.

The irony of Joseph getting called out for carrying himself as if it’s “The Joseph McRae Show” is that that’s exactly what it’s been like having Law Roach find ways to recenter himself in everything. It’s precisely why he and Tyra ended up disagreeing in the first place.

But the latest hour gave us more background on Joseph McRae, roughly two seasons too late.

In a way that served as a reminder of what we’ve been missing by not actually having more personal elements of the designers taking center stage rather than all of this manufactured, ridiculous drama.

We learned that Joseph spent years earning an engineering degree instead of following his passion. Through bits of his story, the pieces click into place as to why Joseph is the way that he is.

After years of stifling himself, unable to fully embrace who and what he was and what he loved, he’s finally in a place where he can be joyous and unapologetically himself.

He’s following his passion, and his confidence is the armor he built up — hyping himself up until he could believe in it, and believe in himself.

It’s affirming and inspirational, and joyous.

Remember what I said about joy being a radical form of defiance? That’s everything Joseph McRae embodies. Black Boy Joy, if you will.

After working so hard to finally come into his own, fully be himself, and embrace and love himself, it’s genuinely alarming to have those on this series seemingly actively working to break his spirit — and that’s what it’s coming to, right?

This innate drive in those around to “humble” him without any reflection on WHY that’s a desire in the first place. There’s an unspoken “place” people want Joseph to be in, and it seems to goad him that he’s the steps outside of that.

But there is no place or space when you affirm that the sky is the limit for yourself, and no one has the right to clip your wings and tell you otherwise.

Listening to the other designers claim that Joseph was somehow the “weakest designer” even though he was the one designer who won the most challenges was absurd.

It’s understandable if the strategy was to undermine Joseph because he poses a threat to them constantly.

But it’s the guileless efforts to convince us that he’s somehow the villain of the season that have been off-putting all around. Watching other designers gang up on him just because they may or may not care for his personality has become a bit gross.

The Joseph McRae hate train has been such a contrived arc that’s frustrating to even entertain when it seems to boil down to criticizing someone for being too confident, too joyful, too proud, too secure, too … much.

It’s hard not to read the Joseph McRae browbeating as an active attempt to dim someone’s light when it’s so bright that it feels intimidating.