Bridget Armstrong

They talk about having this argument with a CBS exec who didn't want a Latina model on the first season, right?

Like, these fights were real.

So I think all of that happening to her is what sort of sparked her to want to make sure that A&TM was diverse.

But the problem is...

She also wanted a hugely successful show, right?

She says it in the Netflix doc.

She said that A&TM was her payback to these people in the fashion industry that treated her poorly.

Like, you have a magazine, but I have a TV show.

But in order to keep doing that TV show, it has to be really successful.

And...

One of the things I think, and it appeals to people now, but it very much appealed to people in the early 2000s, racial stereotypes.

Tyra is not like the only person on reality TV who played into this.

It played out on scripted television as well, right?

It's a sort of low-hanging fruit that allows people to identify characters and then try to understand where the story is going.

We spoke with Black women who came on the show thinking that they would be treated with care because Tyra's a Black woman, because she knows what it's like.

Ebony Hayth.

Ebony got a terrible angry Black woman edit.

And she says that she expected the rest of the world to react to her in a certain way.

I don't think the Netflix doc is that kind to Tyra, but it's definitely not kind to her.

in our docuseries.