Tyra Banks addresses ‘insensitive’ clips from America’s Next Top Model: ‘Those were some really off choices’

Tyra Banks has responded to criticism over controversial moments on America’s Next Top Model after clips from the show resurfaced on Twitter.

Recently, ANTM, which ended two years ago, began trending on social media after people began pointing out questionable segments from the modelling show.

One tweet, in particular, which showed a moment from season six in which Banks and the fellow judges can be seen pressuring cycle six contestant Danielle Evans to have dental surgery to close her gap, was liked more than 111,000 times.

“Why was this allowed to air wtf Tyra Banks is going straight to hell,” the caption read.

The tweet prompted others to share examples of “body-shaming,” blackface, and “bullying” on the show at the hands of Banks, who has since been accused of “problematic” behaviour.

“Tyra Banks had a whole television show for bullying people,” one person tweeted.

Another said: “We don’t talk about how toxic Tyra Banks was in ANTM. She’d make a girl get a buzz cut after her hair is down her back from growing it out since she was nine, just to send her home in the 5th week and get mad when the girls didn’t cry when they got eliminated.”

On Friday, Banks responded to the backlash on Twitter, where she acknowledged that some of the moments were “really off choices”.

“Been seeing the posts about the insensitivity of some past ANTM moments and I agree with you,” the supermodel tweeted. “Looking back, those were some really off choices.

“Appreciate your honest feedback and am sending you so much love and virtual hugs.”

While some people appreciated Banks acknowledging the “insensitivity” of the show, others accused the model of not offering a “genuine apology”.

“Say more about this. Which choices were off? What was off about them? Mere acknowledgement and genuine apology are not the same thing,” one person wrote in response.

Another said: “Perhaps apologies to the women who were belittled would be more appropriate. Aspiring young models saw those clips, too, and it just reinforced the idea that women have to be perfect. Acknowledge it was wrong but apologise to the right people.”

Earlier this week, Evans, who won her season, addressed the viral clip of her undergoing dental surgery on Instagram, where she said: “It wasn’t about copping out, it was about understanding what really carries weight and holds value in my life ⁠— and teeth wasn’t one of them.”

In the video, Evans also said she wanted to “take this time to build up and to speak to all my little young queens that saw that episode that were truly affected by Tyra’s words”, telling viewers: “You’re beautiful, and I’m not talking about a physical feature. It doesn’t matter if you have a gap, stacked teeth, straight teeth, it matters not. It doesn’t matter if you’re black, brown, white, indifferent, other, it doesn’t matter. What makes you beautiful is in here.”