After months of anticipation, Chicago-set kitchen dramedy The Bear is set to return to screens on June 27. And Ebon Moss-Bachrach, the actor who plays chaos agent turned front-of-the-house-mastermind Richard “Richie” Jerimovich, is bracing for the worst. All 10 episodes of the series will drop on Disney+ that day, inspiring countless Instagram “watching now” posts of chef Carmen “Carmy” Barzotto (Jeremy Allen White) captioned with drooling variations on “yes, chef.” But for Moss-Bachrach, the adulation is more aggressive (as befits Richie, one supposes) and involves endless catcalls of a shared nickname.
Though the show is currently off the air, “I get a lot of comments,” Moss-Bachrach tells The Guardian. “People yell ‘Cousin!’ at me all day.”
He’s referring, of course, to the sobriquet traded most frequently between Carmy and Ritchie, even though the two aren’t related. (It’s a controversial choice to have the pair call each other “Cousin,” one disputed as inauthentic by some Chicago residents.)
The hollers of “Cousin” aren’t just happening on the streets of Chicago, Moss-Bachrach says. “I was on top of a little mountain outside Kyoto, and a Korean couple came up to me and were saying how much they love the show,” he says.
Sometimes, it’s fine to get the call of “Cousin” from a stranger. “I’ve had so many beautiful interactions with people that have been really moved in a way that it sort of inspired me about the power of telling a story or the power of making a show or making a piece of art,” he says of The Bear, for which he won an Emmy last year.
But that casual familiarity isn't always ideal. “Sometimes, you know, you’re just not having a great day,” Moss-Bachrach says. “And it’s just like: ‘I’m sorry, man, I don’t have much for you.’”
While Moss-Bachrach clearly wishes fans would approach him some other way, he still knows he has it easy compared to his co-star, the subject of much internet desire. When asked if he was jealous of co-star Jeremy Allen White, Moss-Bachrach reportedly choked back laughter as he exclaimed, “No! I’m OK with it.”
“I mean, I’m not even sure I can say I’m happy for him,” Moss-Bachrach said of White’s fervent following. “I try to support him. And I basically try to protect him when the fans get really excited.”
This article originally appeared on Vanity Fair.
