Tyra Banks recreates her Sports Illustrated cover - for Black History, y’all at Racialicious

Tyra Banks recreates her Sports Illustrated cover - for Black History, y’all

by Carmen Van Kerckhove

Ever since those photos came out of Tyra Banks looking not very svelte in a bathing suit, it seems like she’s been obsessed with proving that she’s not fat.

You might have heard about the show she did a couple weeks back where she wore the same bathing suit that appears in the photo to prove that she’s not that fat. She even got her hands on the other photos taken at the shoot that day - the unretouched ones - to show how un-fat she was. But if she was that big, it would be ok, because large women are beautiful too, but she’s not, not that there’s anything wrong with it, but she’s not that large right now, but that’s not to say she may not look like that one day in the future and if she did, it would be totally cool, but you know, she just doesn’t look like that now. (That’s pretty much how the show went - I’ve never seen anything more self-contradictory in my life.) Here’s a clip:

But yesterday’s show just put me over the edge. I guess she wasn’t satisfied with her last I’m-not-fat attempt, so she decided to recreate her famous Sports Illustrated cover - pink polka-dot bikini and all.

As if that wasn’t ridiculous enough, she actually had the balls to make this a Black History Month event! Because she was the first African-American swimsuit model to appear on the cover of SI, and “it enabled young women of color to realize that they CAN…DREAM…BIG!” Check out this video:

It was the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen. (And don’t even get me started on how badly Photoshopped the final product was.) At one point during the show, Tyra said that when that cover came out, a “Caucasian gentleman” told her that for the first time in his life, he felt it was okay for him to be attracted to black women, because he was taught growing up that they were taboo.

So basically, to Tyra, the fact that men of all races felt comfortable jerking off to that picture, was a moment to remember in Black History. What a milestone.

Well, I was inspired by Miss Banks’ courage, so I decided to do something special for all of you, the loyal readers of Racialicious.

As you might know, it’s Chinese New Year. What better way to honor 5,000 years of Chinese civilization than by recreating my historic Stuff magazine cover shoot? I managed to hunt down the same photographer, the same crew, the same brown bathing suit, we even went to the same spot on the same beach in Hawaii. I’m really pleased with how the photos came out. Have a look yourself.

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Trackbacks & Pings

Body Impolitic - Blog Archive - » Catching Up after an Unexpected Vacation - Laurie Toby Edison: Photographer on 05 Mar 2007 at 6:45 pm

[…] Van Kerckhove at the very fine blog Racialicious wrote last month about Tyra Banks, in a piece good enough to remind you about three weeks […]
America’s Next Top Bottle recap - I love eating muffin mix « Fancy Notions on 10 Apr 2008 at 3:03 pm

[…] call her Precious. According to another inside source, she is also a big fat cow, but we know that this sort of talk hurts Tyra so we’re not going to engage in […]

Comments

Rob wrote:

This post deserves just one comment from me.

“lol”

Posted 20 Feb 2007 at 10:00 am ¶
Sylvia wrote:

Now that’s what I call promoting cultural awareness! We’re well on our way to populating the earth with tan babies and getting rid of race-related problems.

Posted 20 Feb 2007 at 10:27 am ¶
Carmen Van Kerckhove wrote:

On a more serious note though, I find her assertions that this SI cover was a historical milestone to be completely ludicrous.

On the show she tried to say that it meant a lot for black beauty to be appreciated. But come on, it’s the swimsuit issue. This is not about beauty, it’s about sex.

Black women’s bodies have been desired and used (often against their will) by white men for centuries, for better or for worse.

Beverly Johnson being the first black woman to appear on the cover of Vogue - *that’s* a historical milestone for black beauty. SI is just about fuckability, if you’ll excuse my French.

Posted 20 Feb 2007 at 10:59 am ¶
Rachel wrote:

ROTFL!!

This is rapidly becoming your least favorite show.

CV headline “Tyra Single Handedly Sets Back Race and Gender Relations 30 Years”

I, too, have been a little skeptical of this whole Tyra fat issue because it wreaks of “I’m not fat see.” Rather than, “I’m bigger now than I was 10 years ago. Kiss my ass.”

Posted 20 Feb 2007 at 11:26 am ¶
Jay wrote:

Speaking of SI, here’s something even more ludicrous:

The current issue of SI Swimsuit has Beyonce on the cover and a pic of Kanye West and supermodel Anne Vyalitsyna. And people decide to cancel their subscriptions. I wonder why…

http://community.allhiphop.com/showthread.php?t=350991

Posted 20 Feb 2007 at 11:33 am ¶
mtevc wrote:

Oh goodness Carmen, shameless you are! I am rolling on the floor in laughter. You are the pinup queen.

Sheesh! I was going into my daughter’s 3rd grade class to do something for Black History Month, and I was going to talk about famous black artists and help them do an art project in their “style.” But now I am rethinking that move. Maybe we can discuss Tyra’s milestone career move! HA!

Posted 20 Feb 2007 at 11:46 am ¶
kim wrote:

Jay,

What’s the problem with this, for you? Or was that sarcasm?

Posted 20 Feb 2007 at 11:48 am ¶
Brad wrote:

So is this final proof that supermodels are truly air heads? Sorry if any supermodels were offended.
PS Carmen damn girl! Thats hot thats going up in my locker at work.

hehehe just kidding, seriously though good stuff Carmen

Tyra please

Posted 20 Feb 2007 at 12:03 pm ¶
Jay wrote:

Kim,

“I wonder why” was sarcasm, and tried to speak to the motivations of the targeted demographic.

The SI Swimsuit issue as a whole was about music (which is why Beyonce was on the cover), but comments like “Is this the Swimsuit Issue or the Ghetto issue?” tells me that they’re weren’t just complaining about the fact it was a music issue.

Since they never threatened to cancel over Tyra Banks’ issue, I’d have to assume they were mad about Kanye West.

Posted 20 Feb 2007 at 12:43 pm ¶
drydock wrote:

okay, there’s some pretty brainy posters here, so I’ll probably get hammered with my comment. Anyways….

This post seems a little overly cynical.

Are we really expecting all that much from daytime TV? Even debating crappy TV makes me feel a little stupid.

I’m sure Tyra felt a hit to her ego by those photos. yeah, yeah, yeah there’s nothing wrong with being fat (I’m a few over myself) but she got famous (and rich) via modeling. So she is a being a little vain, it’s not like she’s alone in this type of personal fallibility.

As far as “black firsts”– okay Tyra is maybe overdoing is it but is really as bad as—

“So basically, to Tyra, the fact that men of all races felt comfortable jerking off to that picture, was a moment to remember in Black History. What a milestone.”

I’m mean doesn’t she get any credit for being a top model and breaking some barriers?

Posted 20 Feb 2007 at 1:18 pm ¶
Kyla wrote:

Seems to go along with these articles:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/15/AR2007021501879.html

and

http://www.salon.com/mwt/broadsheet/2007/02/16/curvy/index.html

The writers claim that women of color are “allowed” to be curvy, but they actually face the same amount of pressure to be thin that white women do, which is so obvious in this whole “Is Tyra fat!?OMG” “scandal” thing.

Posted 20 Feb 2007 at 1:30 pm ¶
kim wrote:

Jay,

Lately, I have gotten into fights and don’t understand why, so I thought I’d ask.

Thanks.

Posted 20 Feb 2007 at 2:05 pm ¶
FrancesM wrote:

Carmen- You’re a hottie!

You know I was thinking for Black History month of mooning folks around town so they know the beauty of my black butt. Ha!
~F

Posted 20 Feb 2007 at 2:09 pm ¶
Carmen Van Kerckhove wrote:

drydock, yes I think Tyra absolutely deserves recognition for becoming such a well-known supermodel. It’s her lame attempt at tying this exercise in vanity to Black History Month that turns me off.

I also find her contradictory messages about body image very problematic, considering how many girls and young women look up to her. After all, her media empire was built on Top Model - a show in which women are judged solely by their looks, and in which many are told to lose weight.

Posted 20 Feb 2007 at 2:31 pm ¶
Erica wrote:

Oh, Carmen, you ain’t right.

Posted 20 Feb 2007 at 2:33 pm ¶
Nina wrote:

drydock and others who make the same point: This website is defined as “a blog about the intersection of race and pop culture.” Unfortunately much of pop culture is crappy, but, in my opinion, not immune to criticism. Especially because pop culture reaches millions more than say Frantz Fannon, hence this space. In terms of Tyra, I think Carmen and the other posters have said all that I want to say on the topic.

Posted 20 Feb 2007 at 3:33 pm ¶
Rachel wrote:

Yes, and on Top Model they are becoming skinnier and skinnier. They even quit havign any plus size models on the show.

If Tyra really had any backbone on the fat issue, she would add several plus sized women in the next cycle of Top Model.

Posted 20 Feb 2007 at 4:08 pm ¶
LM wrote:

What’s funniest of all is that Tyra is overlooking her SI swimsuit cover of the previous year, shared with Valerie Mazza, in saying that this is the 20th anniversary of her “first.”

Posted 20 Feb 2007 at 5:31 pm ¶
LM wrote:

Oops… I mean 10th anniversary.

Posted 20 Feb 2007 at 5:32 pm ¶
S wrote:

Carmen, this is waaaay too funny! Yeah, I thought that show was far past Tyra’s normal lameness. My goodness, she even had her mamma on the show to comment about the “fat” remarks. I would respect her more if she had an “I don’t care what you think/say” attitude. But no, she had to PROVE that she’s not fat. The gods of Lamesness must be proud!

Posted 20 Feb 2007 at 7:22 pm ¶
S wrote:

I kinda like that Kiss My Fat A remark!

Posted 20 Feb 2007 at 7:28 pm ¶
Anu wrote:

Wow. I guess as a teenage girl I got something completely different out of what Tyra was saying than everyone else. While Tyra might not have the media training or education to get across her point clearly, I think she wasn’t must trying to say “I’m not fat.” I think she was trying to say “if you call THIS fat, how do you think this affects the body image of women and girls whose bodies look like mine?” Women who are were previously content with their bodies might now think: “Wow, if all those people are calling Tyra fat, then what does that make me?”

Some of you probably think that no one takes Tyra or celebrity gossip and news seriously anyway. Well, then you haven’t spent very much time around teenage girls (being a parent doesn’t count). Very few women are satified with their bodies, and it’s almost impossible to not feel at least subconcious pressure from the media to confrom to the European ideal of beauty. Tyra is saying, “Its okay to be big/big is beautiful too, but contrary to what the media and hollywood might be telling you, you’re really not as big as you think.”

Posted 20 Feb 2007 at 9:46 pm ¶
Adele wrote:

I have to agree with the good majority of you when I say that Tyra’s SI anniversary episode was over the top and somewhat embarrassing. I don’t know what has gotten into her these days. As someone has already pointed out, she is retired. She no longer “actively” models for the fashion industry but yet she seems to want to constantly relive her glory days. Why she cares so much about a media that is run mostly by whites who believe that true beauty equates to “white and skeletal” is beyond me. In my opinion, she is doing a poor job of hiding her crushed ego. The whole coming out in her “tabloid swimsuit” and proclaiming to be proud of being “fat” was one thing but the whole SI anniversary thing crossed the line into complete absurdity. She only gave more ammo to her critics who will only continue to call her fat (although medically and physically speaking, she isn’t) as she looked quite different from the original SI photo (obviously) and the newer “ego stroking” recreation (which, as Carmen has pointed out was so photoshopped!) that totally defeated the whole purpose of the show.

I also agree with all of you who had an issue with Tyra’s packaging her SI “first” around Black History Month. I get what she’s *trying* to do, but in the end, the result was totally off. It’s bad enough that Black History Month seems to be constantly centered only around MLK, Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman and the other “token” BHM blacks so why she thinks that her gracing the cover of a men’s mag in a teeny bikini deserves “historic” mention is beyond me. Tyra’s grand proclamations reminded me of Halle Berry’s silly Oscar speech about opening doors for other black women/women of colour because as we all know, pimping yourself out for an Oscar is the most honourable way to celebrate the struggles of all the black women who came before you…

I also found her remark about the white guy who, after her SI issue came out, told her that he found it easier to like black women, utterly ridiculous. Many white men, famous or not, have always “liked” or have had crushes on black women. Many of the white guys that I know have always publicly stated to having a crush on a black actress or singer. Not to mention the many white male celebs out there who have stated in various interviews over the years to having crushes on a black women and I’ve seen all sorts of names pop up from the totally typical and unoriginal (Halle Berry, Beyonce) to the totally unexpected (India.Irie and Lauryn Hill). Not saying that all white men out there harbour secret desires for black women because obviously that is not the case, but for something like that to have even come up made Tyra sound idiotic and self righteous.

Don’t get me wrong, I like Tyra (when she’s not so egotistical and annoying) and understand that her heart was in the right place (I think), but just like her “idol” Oprah, the messages she preaches and her actions are getting “crossed”.

Posted 21 Feb 2007 at 2:43 am ¶
drydock wrote:

Along similar lines from Blackprof blog —

Is Hip Hop Worthy of Black History Month?

An excerpt: While riding in my car yesterday listing to satellite radio, I heard what admittedly I found to be a worrisome salute to black history. Essentially, the station challenged youthful listeners to realize that black history consisted “not only of Harriet Tubman,” but also of “our hip hop pioneers.”…………..

http://www.blackprof.com/archives/2007/02/is_hip_hop_worthy_of_black_his.html#comments

Posted 21 Feb 2007 at 8:53 am ¶
eric daniels wrote:

Tyra feels she is doing her part to bring the races together , I quess she is saying “I am not a fat cow”.She along with the modern ‘pop- rap’ artists their hatred for black women are doing more to advance Dr. Martin King’s dream of white men and other groups can have sexual fantasies of Black Women. Gee thanks Tyra and Hip- Hop generation you deserve the Nobel Peace Prize

YEAHHHHH BOYYYYYYY

Posted 21 Feb 2007 at 7:55 pm ¶
Lint wrote:

Hey moron, its the LUNAR New Year. Dag, its so easy to a hypocrite isn’t it?

Posted 21 Feb 2007 at 8:30 pm ¶
merq wrote:

“I think she was trying to say ‘if you call THIS fat, how do you think this affects the body image of women and girls whose bodies look like mine?’”

Very logical point, Anu. If Banks wasn’t so noticeably at the peak of some crash diet when she filmed her “kiss my fat ass” episode, I would believe that’s what she was thinking.

I was actually in her corner (as much as one can be in Tyra Banks’ corner without retching, that is) until I saw a clip of that episode and noticed her face was noticeably slimmer than I’d seen it in years.

Posted 21 Feb 2007 at 8:59 pm ¶
Carmen Van Kerckhove wrote:

Lint, Lunar New Year is just the generic term for the beginning of the new year according to the lunar calendar. I’m Chinese, hence I celebrate Chinese New Year, along with all the Chinese-specific traditions and customs.

Posted 21 Feb 2007 at 10:09 pm ¶
tmk wrote:

Carmen that is a wonderful picture. Thank you for making my day

Posted 23 Feb 2007 at 7:06 am ¶
mtevc wrote:

Come on guys…Jennifer Hudson on Vogue is more interesting. Big and brown on Vogue! I am dazzled, stunned and impressed.

Posted 23 Feb 2007 at 11:26 am ¶
Alan Bostick wrote:

This is just a driveby, referred by Body Impolitic …

“it enabled young women of color to realize that they CAN…DREAM…BIG!…” if they straighten and dye their hair.

Posted 05 Mar 2007 at 7:31 pm ¶
Alexa wrote:

I like Tyra the way she is. Even if she is fat or not. For hevern sake, I’m even doing my speech on her. So if Tayra ever looks at this ” YOU ARE NOT FAT!!!!!” Alexa

Posted 23 Mar 2007 at 10:54 am ¶
Nomi wrote:

Having grown up with essentially no Black women to look at as idols, and being a bigger woman myself, I - for one - think you’re being too hard on her. She is a very positive role model and I’d much rather my daughter look to her as an example than Paris, Brittany, and even Beyonce - who are ALL known for their provocative dress. At least Trya presents herself to be a lady.

Posted 08 Jun 2007 at 9:37 am ¶
Starrica wrote:

Carmen you are something else, I agree with you 100%

Posted 11 Aug 2007 at 5:37 pm ¶