Tyra Banks isn't letting backlash for episodes of America's Next Top Model that haven't aged well weigh her down.
ANTM premiered in 2003 and promised hopeful models a career in the fashion industry if they made it to the end of their "cycle" (what the show called seasons) and put the amateur models through a variety of challenges including difficult photoshoots and days packed with auditions in a city they're not familiar with.
In recent years, fans have started revisiting ANTM and noticed that a lot of the challenges haven't exactly aged well. From photoshoots where the models had their hair and makeup done to present them as a different race to models being told that superficial parts of themselves like imperfect teeth had to be changed in order to get anywhere in the modeling world.
Wait wait wait. We must talk about this as well. Tyra was out here normalizing Blackface. How is this woman not cancelled 😂😂 #ANTM pic.twitter.com/EyyKh7gYWO
— Annalise Keating (@whewchillay) May 5, 2020
When the show's controversial past started getting attention on social media, ANTM host Tyra Banks took to X (formerly Twitter) to share a now-deleted post apologizing for some of the things that happened on the show, from insensitive comments to models about their looks or personal lives to offensive photoshoots.
In the post, which has since been deleted from her account, she said, "Been seeing the posts about the insensitivity of some past ANTM moments and I agree with you. Looking back, those were some really off choices. Appreciate your honest feedback and am sending so much love and virtual hugs."
Now, the model and reality TV host has indirectly responded to the backlash -- and it seems like she's changed her tune.
While accepting the Luminary Spotlight award at the ESSENCE Black Women in Hollywood Awards, Tyra Banks took a moment in her speech to comment on the challenges she faced while creating ANTM.
"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," she said in her speech at the award show. "To show different beauties at a time when the world was like, ‘What? You casting that?' I was like, 'Why can the girl from the trailer park become a supermodel but the girl that's chillin' in the park in the hood can't?' And we fought and we struggled and we made it happen."
Tyra Banks continued her speech by acknowledging that while the show made some big mistakes, she doesn't want to have her legacy on the show be exclusively associated with the mistakes that they made when she feels that the show also did a lot of good.
"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."
Tyra Banks on fighting for diversity on the 24 cycles of #ANTM during her acceptance speech at #essencebwih25 pic.twitter.com/N9H0naYoTN
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) February 27, 2025
Despite the mistakes that may have been made on ANTM and criticisms that have come from some of the hopeful young models that appeared on the show, there have also been a number of success stories to come out of the show.
Eva Marcille, winner of the third cycle of ANTM, has gone on to appear on The Real Housewives of Atlanta and Eat, Slay, Love; cycle 6's Dani Evans who was encouraged to close the gap in her front teeth has gone on to appear on magazine covers and walk the runway for brands like Baby Phat; and cycle 17's Lisa D'Amato appeared on an episode of Shark Tank.