"Reality TV was the wild, wild west back then" - Sherri Shepherd says Tyra Banks doesn't need to take accountability for "America’s Next Top Model"

Actress and comedian Sherri Shepherd shared what she thought about Tyra Banks amidst the release of Reality Check: Inside America's Next Top Model docu-series. This docu-series explored the behind-the-scenes of the reality show. While netizens have been critical of Banks’ stance on the show, Shepherd seemingly defended her. On February 19, she said on her talk show:

“A lot of people are angry at Tyra. A lot of people are angry at Tyra. You know, the show did awful things to the contestants and everybody, I think, expected Tyra to take more.”

Sherri Shepherd also mentioned the incident involving model Dani Evans and how she refused to fill the gap between her teeth. She opined:

“This is such a hard one. I understand why people are mad. I do understand. But I also say you have to understand the time that this all happened was in 2003. Reality TV was a wild, wild west back then. Every show was trying to outdo each other to stay on the air. We had people that were eating rats on Survivor. We had people getting in Nevada spiders on Fear Factor. Simon Cowell was telling people they s*ck to their faces.”

Sherri Shepherd said she could not forget that Tyra Banks was a young Black woman who was trying to succeed in reality TV at that time. She explained that today there are many reality shows, and people now understand what happens behind the scenes.

However, back then, there were hardly any shows like that, and people did not know much about how they worked. She said it was unfair to judge the past using today’s knowledge and added that Tyra had to face many struggles just to keep the show running and create opportunities for others later.

What did Sherri Shepherd say about having black talent in present times?

Sherri Shepherd said that she could relate to Tyra Banks, as she had also gone through the process of pitching her own talk show to networks. She went on to say:

“There's a lot of stuff that we did not know back then that would not have happened if this show aired now. People are blaming Tyra for allowing them to cut a black woman's hair wrong.”

She also said:

“I remember that when they cut the girls from New York and she was bald and they cut it, she had bald patches. We didn't have the sensitivities behind the scenes back then that we do now. Nowadays, if you have a black talent, they make sure to get black stylists. That's what we had to fight for to get.”

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Sherri Shepherd argued that whatever happened back then is unlikely to happen at present times. She noted that Tyra Banks had to fight a lot of battles to ensure that the show came with inclusivity.

Banks wanted to have women from different races and body types, but the industry at the time focused on only one type. Despite everything, Sherri Shepherd acknowledged that the show did terrible things.

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