ANTM’s Tyra Banks gets a load of criticism, but did she actually stick up for the models?
Evidence of her having their backs is resurfacing
Tyra Banks gets a lot of criticism for how she handled America’s Next Top Model, but it turns out she may have stuck up for the models more than we remember. As Reality Check: Inside ANTM comes out on Netflix, we’re all being reminded of those harrowing old clips.
A lot of people are claiming she stuck up for plus-size models, and was known to be an early advocate for size inclusivity back in the strict 2000s. Yet she also got a lot of backlash for allegedly wearing a fat suit on The Tyra Banks Show, which came out after ANTM.
Cycle one contestant Robin Manning was deemed a “plus-size model” at size six. Tyra said: “Yes, Robin would represent a plus-size model. One problem that I do have with Robin… I think on the top she’s not plus-sized and on the bottom she is.”
they probably not old enough to remember this pic.twitter.com/SjNMCT1NF4
— bebe elle the venusian witch (@Faxzfade) October 17, 2024
She later said: “I just wish her upper body was bigger and matched her lower body better.” Robin ended up crying before Tyra asked her: “Robin you were supposed to have a nude photo shoot, we don’t have a photo for you this week, why is that?”
To contrast, a resurfaced clip of Tyra telling Janice Dickinson, who had told a model she’s the first plus-size woman on the show: “Why waste her time and tell her she’s the only girl that could win America’s Next Top Model that’s a plus-size? I see a lot of discrimination.”
Another online clip going round shows Tyra saying that, “If she wasn’t raised to be a strong woman to handle attacks [on her body], I’d probably be starving myself right now. And that’s what’s happening to women all around the country right now.”
“If you have something to say to me or other women built like me, women whose names you know, women whose names you don’t, women that work, women whose husbands put them down, I have one thing to say: Kiss my fat a**!” she added.
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