Tiffany Richardson is setting the record straight about being on the receiving end of Tyra Banks’ viral “we were all rooting for you” meltdown on America’s Next Top Model.
More than 20 years after their explosive confrontation, the Cycle 4 alum slammed the supermodel in a fiery Instagram post that has since been deleted, just as Banks reflects on the moment in the new Netflix docuseries. Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model.
Fans still remember Banks yelling, “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 control.”
But Richardson sees it differently. “You know how you treated me the entire time on and off camera, YOU WERE A STALKER!!!” she wrote, accusing Banks of being a “lying bitch” and claiming that the argument was “edited” to make it look like the host “cared” about her.
“Fuck you @tyrabanks I bet you won’t sit down with me face to face and talk about it!!!” Richardson continued, adding, “Damn shame… it’s giving y’all to keep hating on my little black ass” and “@tyrabanks just let it go, IT’S BEEN OVER 20 years.”
In the docuseries, Banks frames the altercation as personal and layered. “I was probably bigger than her…Black girls, all the challenges we have,” she said. “That’s black girl stuff that goes deep inside me, but I knew I had gone too far.”
Behind the scenes, creative director Jay Manuel called it “the most difficult moment on set I’ve ever experienced,” hinting that “a lot more things were actually said.”
