“We’re woke now, we know so much more now than we did back then,” Shepherd said. “I hate that she’s getting so much flak.”

Sherri Shepherd breaks down in tears defending Tyra Banks’ controversial ANTM behavior

"We're woke now, we know so much more now than we did back then," Shepherd said. "I hate that she's getting so much flak."

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February 20, 2026 2:10 p.m. ET

Sherri Shepherd cries over Tyra Banks on 'America's Next Top Model'. Credit:

Sherri/YouTube; Barbara Nitke/The CW

- Tyra Banks has faced renewed criticism amid *ANTM* contestants' allegations in the new *Reality Check* docuseries.

- Sherri Shepherd tearfully defended Banks on her *Sherri* talk show.

- Past contestants have spoken out against alleged sexual assault and said that the show put them in blackface for photoshoots.

While fans, former contestants, and past judges collectively criticize Tyra Banks and her iconic *America's Next Top Model* reality show amid the release of Netflix's new exposé docuseries, talk show host Sherri Shepherd has come to the supermodel's defense.

In a recent, tear-filled video shared to the *Sherri* show's YouTube account, the actress and comedian passionately stood up for Banks amid what she speculated was a hard-fought struggle for a Black woman to claim space on mainstream television at a time when equal representation wasn't prevalent on the small screen.

"The show did awful things to the contestants, and I think everybody expected Tyra to take more accountability," Shepherd said, referencing a portion of the *Reality Check* docuseries that saw cycle 6 winner Dani Evans voice disdain for Banks' apology after pressuring the contestant to undergo dental work to close a gap in her teeth back in 2006.

"I understand why people are mad," Shepherd admitted of the show, which also featured models wearing dark makeup to portray women of different races, instances of alleged sexual harassment, and body-shaming comments from various judges. "But I also say, you have to understand the time this all happened was in 2003. Reality TV was the wild, wild west back then. Every show was trying to outdo each other to stay on the air."**

She then spoke about Banks being "a young Black woman trying to make it in the reality TV game" at the time, after Banks said in the three-episode Netflix project that she initially shopped ANTM around to various networks, but that UPN was the only channel to show interest in airing it.

"We're trying to compare a time today that we know a lot to a time when there was nothing like this show on the air," stressed Shepherd. "We're not taking into account the battles that this Black woman had to fight just to stay on the air for other people to come on the air."

She added, "I bet you if Heidi Klum had shopped the show around and every model looked like Gigi Hadid, it would have been picked up immediately."

Shepherd doubled down on her estimation that Banks had to fight numerous battles against the norm at the time, highlighting that Banks cast "a diverse cast" including the cycle 1 cast that included models of multiple different ethnicities and body types, and also highlighted the story of a lesbian contestant, Ebony Haith, who is also interviewed in the *Reality Check* series.

'ANTM' winner Eva Marcille reveals 'amazingly horrified' reaction to docuseries

'ANTM' contestants unite, lobby government for reality TV protections: 'Pushing for real change'

The *Sherri* hostess admitted she felt that Banks "couldn't protect everybody" in her pursuit to widen the fashion industry's perception of beauty.

"I'm not saying the show didn't do terrible things, because it did, but I just want to think about it in the context with which it happened," she said, again pointing to cycle 11's trans model, Isis King, and cycle 21 model and Winnie Harlow (who has a skin condition called vitiligo), as evidence of Banks' insistence on expanding beauty standards.**** "We accept, we love the trans community, we accept our skin now. But back then, when I tell you the battles people don't understand. When we are in power, the battles we had to fight that you will never know about. Never," Shepherd said as she fought back tears. "To keep a show on the air there are things that we have to do that people will tell us, if you want to stay on the air, this is what you've got to do, and we've got to weigh the options, and sometimes we make bad decisions and we look up and go, in hindsight, maybe I should not have done it, but I just wanted to open up the door and give a platform to people who look like me."

Shepherd finished her defense by again stating that she doesn't "agree with some things that Tyra did," but she does "ask that people look at it in the context. We're woke now, we know so much more now than we did back then. I hate that she's getting so much flak. She does need to take accountability, I know that, but I also know the battles some people will never understand that are fought."

Jay Manuel and Tyra Banks on 'ANTM' cycle 7.

In addition to her vocal support for Banks, Shepherd welcomed Reality Check interviewees and former *ANTM* judges Nigel Barker, Jay Manuel, and Miss J. Alexander to her talk show to discuss the revelations in the documentary project.

"I'm not her publicist. I'm not sure who her publicist is, but that being said, I think the reality in how we approached it was to be absolutely honest with it. It's okay to admit that you made a mistake, it's okay to say I'm sorry, it's okay to go it wasn't right," Barker, who, alongside Manuel and Alexander, was dismissed from the show after cycle 18, said on *Sherri* when asked about Banks' accountability. "We were trying. There were lots of mistakes."

A representative for Banks has not responded to **'s repeated requests for comment on *Reality Check *and various contestants' and judges' allegations against the supermodel and the show.

*Sherri* airs weekdays in syndication. *Reality Check: Inside America's Next Top Model* is now streaming on Netflix.

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