Tiffany Richardson Sets the Record Straight Saying She Was a Victim of Tyra Banks’ Viral Outburst: ‘We Were All Supporting You’ on America’s Next Top Model.
More than 20 years after her explosive confrontation, the Cycle 4 alum blasted the model in a fiery Instagram post, since deleted, just as Banks reflects on the moment in Netflix’s new docuseries, Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model.
Fans still remember Banks shouting, “I’ve never yelled at a girl like that in my life” during a tense elimination — a confrontation she now admits: “I went too far. You know, I lost it.”
But Richardson sees things differently. “You know how you treated me all the time off and on camera, YOU WERE A BULLY!!!” she wrote, accusing Banks of being a “lying bitch” and claiming the argument was “edited” to make it seem like the host “cared” about her.
“F**K YOU @tyrabanks I BET YOU DON’T WANT TO SIT WITH ME FACE TO FACE AND TALK ABOUT IT!!! Richardson continued, adding, “Fucking shame…it still makes you hate me, my little black ass,” and, “@tyrabanks he just let it go, IT’S BEEN OVER 20 years.”
In the docuseries, Banks presents the altercation as multiple and personal. “It was probably bigger than her… Black girls, all the challenges we have,” she said. “It’s a black girl thing that really goes deep inside me, but I knew I had gone too far.”
Behind the scenes, creative director Jay Manuel called it “the hardest moment on set I’ve ever had,” hinting that “there was a lot more that was actually said.”
