Tyra Banks responds in speech to America’s upcoming top model backlash: Did we get it right? Absolutely not! I said some stupid things
“I refuse to have my legacy be about some stuff linked together on the Internet when there were 24 cycles of changing the world,” Banks said at a Feb. 27 awards show
Tyra Banks addressed some longstanding criticism of America’s Next Top Model — and she made it clear that she firmly believes the show’s legacy is one of diversity and inclusion.
On Feb. 27 in Los Angeles, Banks attended the ESSENCE Black Women in Hollywood Awards, where she was the first-ever Luminary Spotlight honoree.
During her acceptance speech, the runway modeling star admitted that she didn’t always get everything right during the show’s 24 seasons. However, she said that she was fighting hard for onscreen diversity well before it was a topic that others were talking about.
“Over 20 years ago I created a show called America’s Next Top Model,” Banks, 51, began. “And you guys have no idea how hard we fought to bring the diversity to that television show at a time when it didn’t exist; to show different beauties at a time when the world was like,
‘What? You casting that?’ A time when people in the fashion industry were telling me, ‘You putting the girls from the hood on your show?’ “
“I was like, ‘Why can the girl from the trailer park become a supermodel but the girl that’s chilin’ in the park in the hood can’t?’ “ she continued. “And we fought and we struggled and we made it happen.”
