Tyra Banks acknowledged her previous missteps on America’s Subsequent Prime Mannequin throughout her speech on the ESSENCE Black Girls in Hollywood Awards, stating: “I mentioned some dumb shit.”
The occasion acknowledged Banks as its inaugural Luminary Highlight recipient on Feb. 27, 2025.
“Over 20 years in the past I created a present known as America’s Subsequent Prime Mannequin,” she started her speech. “And also you guys don’t know how exhausting we fought to convey the variety to that tv present at a time when it didn’t exist; to point out totally different beauties at a time when the world was like, ‘What? You casting that?’ A time when individuals within the vogue business have been telling me, ‘You placing the women from the hood in your present?”
“I used to be like, ‘Why can the woman from the trailer park develop into a supermodel however the woman that’s chilin’ within the park within the hood can’t?’” she added. “And we fought and we struggled and we made it occur.”
“Did we get it proper? Hell no. I mentioned some dumb shit,” Tyra continued. “However I refuse to have my legacy be about some stuff linked collectively on the Web when there have been 24 cycles of fixing the world. And I’m so excited that I, and so many people, have opened that door for others to observe.”
“And now my 51-year-old, dimpled, cellulite-covered larger tummy and 10 million occasions larger titties is strolling by way of that door that I opened with all of us behind us on that runway saying, ‘Child, it’s only the start,’” she concluded.
The supermodel confronted criticism in 2020 when the present’s availability on Amazon Prime Video sparked renewed scrutiny. Social media customers shared footage of Banks critiquing contestants’ bodily options, together with dental gaps and comparable traits.
Previous contestants started revealing their experiences with Banks. “As a lot as we must always applaud the subversive subjects that ANTM has lined in its reign up to now — bodily and sexual abuse, homelessness, feminine circumcision, gayness (hello!!) — we should additionally settle for that there have been moments when these points have been clearly exploited for leisure worth,” Kim Stolz expressed in her MTV piece (by way of Vox) in 2008.
Banks instructed Stolz to downplay her sexuality whereas pursuing her modeling profession.
Extra allegations towards Banks included harsh criticism about contestants’ weight, allowing skin-darkening make-up throughout photoshoots, and dismissing reviews of inappropriate bodily contact between fashions.
