Tyra Banks claims she said ‘dumb s***’ during ‘America’s Next Top Model’

Tyra Banks attended the Essence Black Women in Hollywood Awards as the Luminary Spotlight honoree, where she opened up about backlash during her acceptance speech.

The TV personality admitted that she had made some blunders during the 24 seasons of America’s Next Top Model but insisted that she was fighting for on-screen diversity before anyone else.

“Over 20 years ago I created a show called America’s Next Top Model,” she stated, “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 added, “And we fought and we struggled and we made it happen.”

The model then seemed to address the backlash she has received for her reinforcement of toxic beauty ideals and her treatment of the models, “Did we get it right? Hell no. I said some dumb s***. But I refuse to have my legacy be about some stuff linked together on the Internet when there were 24 cycles of changing the world. And I am so excited that I, and so many of us, have opened that door for others to follow.”

“And now my 51-year-old, dimpled, cellulite-covered bigger tummy and 10 million times bigger t****** is walking through that door that I opened with all of us behind us on that runway saying, ‘Baby, it’s just the beginning,’” Banks concluded.

How long was Tyra Banks on America's Next Top Model?

Tyra Banks created the reality series in 2003, which she was the presenter and executive producer for for 22 seasons until it ended up getting cancelled.

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