This week, supermodel Tyra Banks addressed some of the hate she received from past America's Next Top Model clips. Controversy erupted when viewers began commenting on some of the show's previous challenges, which included putting a Caucasian model in blackface, as well as coercing a model to close the signature gap between her front teeth.

ANTM was a showcase for aspiring models to undergo a number of industry-related challenges, culminating in a season finale fashion show that would determine the winner of a modeling contract and other prizes. However, throughout its run, many of those "teaches," as Banks branded them, were flawed exercises in embarrassing and, in some cases, traumatizing, the participants. Few could forget arachnophobic Real Housewives of Atlanta star Eva Marcille (who won ANTM's season 3), in tears over having to do a photo shoot with a tarantula on her face. In a later season, Banks also famously sent model Dani Evans to a cosmetic dentist to have her gap filled in, which didn't sit too well with the model during the episode, and is still bothersome to her this day. Evans did opt to have her gap narrowed, as a compromise. She went on to win the show's top prize in season 6.

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Banks, who opened her fashion-themed attraction called Model Land in late 2019, was quick to respond to the backlash on Friday, via Twitter: "Been seeing the posts about the insensitivity of some past ANTM moments and I agree with you," Banks tweeted. "Looking back, those were some really off choices. Appreciate your honest feedback and am sending so much love and virtual hugs."

ANTM wasn't always a toxic environment for aspiring models. During its run from 2003 to 2018, the competition was revolutionary for showcasing transgender, Latina, plus-size, and petite models at a time when the runways were populated by more conventional faces and body types. Exposure on the show even led to big breaks for superstars like Nyle DiMarco and Winnie Harlow. Still, for all of Banks' efforts to make her show inclusive, her brashness occasionally reared its ugly head. One such incident with contestant Tiffany Richardson (in which Banks yelled at her during the judging panel for her blithe response to being eliminated) became so famous, it was turned into one of the Internet's most popular memes. Now, with this negativity, as well as the problems she encountered as the host of America's Got Talent, Banks' reputation is once again sullied.

While it's commendable for people to vigilantly defend the contestants on America's Next Top Model from some of Tyra Banks' past choices on the show, the timing is a little off. Where was all this concern when ratings were good, the show was still on the air and these models were being shamed? Picking on someone for their differences has always been terrible. Blackface has been socially unacceptable for decades. So, why didn't more people call out Banks sooner? People who wish to be the morality police should understand that timing is everything. Over the years, multitudes of viewers praised Banks on social media for showing these men and women what the fashion industry was really like. Many fans even celebrated her at the time for bringing authenticity to the show with her brutal demands. If Tyra Banks owes her contestants an apology for her treatment of them as the show's host and producer, then fans owe those same people an apology for watching, laughing and doing nothing about their supposed disgust until now. Fair is fair.

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Source: New York Daily News