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 her explosive clash, the Cycle 4 alum blasted the supermodel in a since-deleted fiery Instagram post, 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 have never in my life yelled at a girl like this,” during a tense elimination — a confrontation she now admits “I went too far. You know, I lost it.”
But Richardson sees it differently. “You know how you treated me the whole time off and on camera, YOU WAS A BULLY!!!” she wrote, accusing Banks of being a “lying a** b***h” and claiming the argument was “edited” to make it appear the host “cared” about her.
“F**K YOU @tyrabanks I BET YOU WONT SIT DOWN WITH ME FACE TO FACE AND TALK ABOUT IT!!!” Richardson continued, adding, “damn shame.. it’s giving yall still hating on lil black ass me,” and, “@tyrabanks h*e just let it go, ITS BEEN OVER 20 years.”
In the docuseries, Banks frames the altercation as layered and personal. “It was probably bigger than her… Black girls, all the challenges that we have,” she said. “That’s some Black girl stuff that goes real deep inside of me, but I knew I went too far.”
Behind the scenes, creative director Jay Manuel called it “the most difficult moment on set I had ever experienced,” hinting that “there was a lot more that was really said.”
