Tyra Banks Addresses 'America's Next Top Model' Controversies (Exclusive)
Tyra Banks is opening up about the America's Next Top Model backlash.
ET caught up with the show's longtime host via Zoom on Wednesday, where she addressed the controversial clips from earlier seasons that have recently resurfaced on social media.
One video, in particular, shows Banks asking cycle 6 winner Dani Evans, "Do you really think you can have a CoverGirl contract with a gap in your mouth? It's not marketable." In another clip, from cycle 13, Banks encourages the models to darken their skin tones for a photo shoot.
"Yes, I apologized for it. Because we put it out and even me just watching it after, I was like, 'Oh, this ain't right,'" Banks, 46, told ET's Kevin Frazier of the latter clip. "We felt like our skin is beautiful, let's paint the world our color. And then when we saw it, we were like, 'Oh no, this excuses other people to do this in a negative way.'"
"We realized that, and I went on my talk show and did an entire segment on what we did. What we did was wrong, and we apologized for it," she continued. "But not everybody saw that. There's a whole new generation of people that didn't grow up with my show and didn't see that."
As for the clip where she calls out Evans, Banks admits to ET that when she looks back at that episode, "I cringe."
"And I cringe through the eyes of today," she added.
Banks also recently apologized for the "insensitivity" of past comments she made on the show via Twitter on May 8. "Been seeing the posts about the insensitivity of some past ANTM moments and I agree with you," she wrote. "Looking back, those were some really off choices. Appreciate your honest feedback and am sending so much love and virtual hugs."
These days, due to the coronavirus pandemic, Banks is quarantining at home with her 4-year-old son, York, and her mother, Carolyn. The family exclusively gave ET a peek into what it's like to watch TV with them on Celebrity Watch Party, which airs Thursdays on Fox.
"The one thing that is funny is that my mom is 71, but she's, like, crushing on everybody that comes on TV," Banks joked. "Like, 'Ooh, Liam Neeson!' I'm like, 'Oh, Ma, he can get it.' She's like, 'Oh, he can get it!'"
"But she is cussing me out on the daily... like, cussing me out," she added, of how their mother-daughter dynamic has changed since having to social distance. "[She'll say], 'Why'd you do it like that?' or, 'Your son's head is all dry. I need to comb his hair.'"
Hear more in the video below.
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