“America’s Next Top Model’s” Creative Director Jay Manuel Said He Was Left “Horrified” And “So Uncomfortable” By The Controversial Race Swap Photoshoot That Has Resurfaced Online
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"America's Next Top Model's" Creative Director Jay Manuel Said He Was Left "Horrified" And "So Uncomfortable" By The Controversial Race Swap Photoshoot That Has Resurfaced Online,"There are so many layers to this, and all of them are insane."
“America’s Next Top Model’s” Creative Director Jay Manuel Said He Was Left “Horrified” And “So Uncomfortable” By The Controversial Race Swap Photoshoot That Has Resurfaced Online
It is pretty common knowledge that America’s Next Top Model is one reality series that hasn’t aged well, especially the earlier seasons.
UPNThis was mirrored in Cycle 8 when Jael had to take part in a corpse photoshoot the week after her friend died of an overdose.
The CWAnd the harsh way that Tyra and various other judges — namely Janice Dickinson — spoke to the contestants throughout the series has also come under scrutiny.
Cbs Photo Archive / CBS via Getty ImagesIn Cycle 6, Tyra famously ridiculed Danielle for not wanting to close the gap in her teeth. Other contestants were body-shamed for gaining weight, told to tone down their queerness, and sent home from the competition for not being comfortable posing in the nude.
UPNIronically, another contestant was slut-shamed when it was revealed that they’d posed for Playboy in the past.
VH1But one of ANTM‘s most controversial moments of all was probably when the show made the hopefuls model as different ethnicities by darkening their skin with makeup.
The CWThis actually happened twice during the show’s 15-year run; in 2005 and then again in 2009.
The CWThe controversial 2005 photoshoot recently resurfaced on TikTok, and viewers were shocked to see just how outrageous the whole thing was.
The CWIn the clip, creative director Jay Manuel can be seen telling the contestants what to expect from the “Got Milk” photoshoot that they were about to take part in. He then said: “Now there’s a twist, we’re actually going to switch your ethnicities.”
The CW“The challenge here really is taking on the persona of that other ethnicity while in the photography and owning it,” he added.
The CWJay then reeled off the ethnicities that the contestants had been assigned, which ranged from Indian to “Eskimo.”
The CWOne girl was given the ethnicity of “Icelandic Scandinavian,” another “Swedish milkmaid,” and one more was told: “We’re making you into a traditional African woman, with a head wrap and everything.”
The CWIn addition to the ethnicity-switch and milk mustache, the photoshoot also included a 3-year-old child that the models had to work with.
The CWSuffice to say, people flocked to the comment section to share their views on the show after watching the clip on TikTok, with many admitting that they didn’t remember it being so offensive when they first watched it more than 15 years ago.
@realitytvforuu follow for part 2 right after #antm #americasnexttopmodel #americasnexttopmodelmoments #realitytv #antmclips #antmmoments #foryou #fyp #realitytvclips #throwbackshows #throwbackrealitytv #realitytvforuu #2005
♬ original sound – reality tv & more❤️🔥TikTok @Realitytvforuu / Via tiktok.com
Others just shared their utter disbelief at the concept, with one writing: “If people told me about this episode before watching it, I wouldn’t believe it.”
TikTok @Realitytvforuu / Via tiktok.comAnother wrote: “No way this was real.” One more added: “There are so many layers to this, and all of them are insane.”
TikTok @Realitytvforuu / Via tiktok.com
TikTok @Realitytvforuu / Via tiktok.com“My jaw dropped so hard it’s no longer attached to my body😐” someone else commented. Another asked: “I still can’t believe they did this like whooooo approved it???”
TikTok @Realitytvforuu / Via tiktok.com
TikTok @Realitytvforuu / Via tiktok.com“It just kept getting worse,” one more wrote. While another user summarized: “That show was a ball of red flags.”
TikTok @Realitytvforuu / Via tiktok.com
TikTok @Realitytvforuu / Via tiktok.comMany also called out the descriptions that were used in the show, including the word “Eskimo,” and Jay’s reference to the traditional African head wrap.
TikTok @Realitytvforuu / Via tiktok.comIn 2020, Jay actually admitted that he was “horrified” by the shoot at the time, and reiterated that the concept for the shoot was out of his control.
Santiago Felipe / Getty ImagesSpeaking to Variety, the star explained: “Many times when you’re working in an environment like that, you have to listen to your executive producers, and ultimately, the two voices at the top were Ken [Mok] and Tyra. There were sometimes several objections by other producers and myself about layers that were added to creative, and we were just told to execute.”
Mike Coppola / Getty“I was so, so, so uncomfortable with this,” Jay said of the race-swap photoshoot. “I was never scripted for my intros or anything, and I didn’t know how I was going to be able to set this up — I was so afraid that I would wear this because I was the creative director, but it was not my idea.”
The CW“That swapped race was a layer added in. It was supposed to be a different concept. I remember that very, very clearly,” Jay added. “I was basically told that I had to execute the creative, and it made me very uncomfortable.”
The CW“The original concept was to always do something with the girl holding the baby doll, and we knew we were going to do the Got Milk part. The layer of swapping races was something that I remember being added in a preproduction meeting,” he explained.
Sylvain Gaboury / FilmMagic“Initially, I didn’t speak up,” Jay confessed. “I was slightly horrified. I’m biracial, but I grew up identifying as Black. My parents grew up under apartheid in South Africa. So, to me, with understanding our own country’s history around race, I thought, ‘We’re really doing this?'”
Charles Eshelman / FilmMagic“There were just certain people working on the show in a senior position, where several producers, not just myself, became very scared to speak up. I actually brought my concern first to another co-executive producer because I was too scared to even take it up higher to an executive producer,” he shared.
The CWTyra ended up apologizing for that photoshoot as well as other controversial moments from the show that same year, after she was called out on social media.
Kelsey Mcneal / ABC via Getty ImagesResponding to a viral tweet that included resurfaced clips from ANTM, Tyra tweeted: “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. ❤️”
Twitter @TyraBanks / Via TwitterShe later told Entertainment Tonight that she had addressed the blackface photoshoots on her talk show soon after the 2009 episode aired. She said: “I apologized for it, ’cause we put it out, and even me just watching it after, I was like, ‘Ooh, this ain’t right.'”
Jim Spellman / FilmMagicSpeaking on her show in 2009, Tyra told viewers that she was sorry for “any offense” that the challenge had caused. Explaining the thought process behind darkening the models’ skin, Tyra said: “We felt like our skin’s beautiful, let’s paint the world our color. Then we saw it, and we were like, ‘Oh no, this excuses other people to do this in a negative way.'”
Brad Barket / Getty ImagesAlso in 2020, Tyra said that the way she spoke to some of the models, including the teeth-gap incident, made her “cringe” as she pointed out that she’d already acknowledged the backlash in her 2018 book, Perfect Is Boring.
Nbc / NBCU Photo Bank / NBCUniversal via Getty Images“I wrote a book, I talked about this, and apologized and said, ‘You know what, I shouldn’t have done that,'” Tyra said. “But I felt the need to apologize again because not everybody saw that.”
The Legacy Of “America’s Next Top Model” Is Anything But FierceMichael Blackmon · April 11, 2022- 35 Times “America’s Next Top Model” Immediately Made Me Say, “Right To Jail”Ehis Osifo · Nov. 25, 2021
- Tyra Banks Just Responded To Negative Criticism Over Problematic Moments In “America’s Next Top Model”Ben Henry · May 29, 2020
- Jay Manuel Revealed The “America’s Next Top Model” Moments He Felt Uncomfortable WithTatiana Tenreyro · May 14, 2020
The Legacy Of “America’s Next Top Model” Is Anything But FierceMichael Blackmon · April 11, 2022
35 Times “America’s Next Top Model” Immediately Made Me Say, “Right To Jail”Ehis Osifo · Nov. 25, 2021
Tyra Banks Just Responded To Negative Criticism Over Problematic Moments In “America’s Next Top Model”Ben Henry · May 29, 2020
Jay Manuel Revealed The “America’s Next Top Model” Moments He Felt Uncomfortable WithTatiana Tenreyro · May 14, 2020Topics in this article
- Tyra Banks
- America's Next Top Model
- Reality
- Stephanie Soteriou
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Stephanie Soteriou is a Celebrity Reporter for BuzzFeed and is based in London
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