Colourface Epidemic Infects ANTM

By Deputy Editor Thea Lim

I suppose it is a good sign that we can still be shocked speechless by the racism in pop culture, right? Because it means that we aren’t totally cynical and embittered. Right?

This morning we received a tip from reader Cassandra, letting us know about last night’s episode of America’s Next Top Model, where contestants flew to Maui to do a photo shoot where they were supposed to be biracial.

Blink.

We don’t usually quote directly from tipsters, but I am too stunned to paraphrase right now. Cassandra reports:

Each girl was given two ethnicities: Tibetan/Egyptian, Greek/Mexican, Moroccan/Russian, Native American/East Indian, Botswanan/Polynesian, Malagasy/Japanese. Five girls are white, one is Asian, and a few are donned in black face and all in “ethnic” outfits (a combination of an aspect of each culture, evident in the photos), which Tyra explains, “Every outfit is not necessarily what people of that culture are wearing now, it might not even be a necessary exact of what they’ve worn in the past, it’s a fashion interpretation of it.” Nicole, assigned to look Malagasy/Japanese, remarks how she’s always wondered what she looked like as a different race and that she felt she looked “exotic.” The girls had to somehow embody what people of those ethnicities were like i.e. Tyra saying, “Think Egyptian, think [insert ethnicity], think of what those people were like, etc.”

INSERT SCREAMS OF HORROR AND FOAMING AT THE MOUTH NOW.

I have to outsource further analysis. I’m not capable of forming coherent words right now.

From Jezebel (where you can also see more photos), a much gentler approach to Tyra Banks that wonders why a black woman initiated this shoot:

As a black woman working in fashion, Elizabeth Gates wrote for the Daily Beast that she was not surprised by the French Vogue blackface, saying: “I would be fooling myself if I thought the draftsmen behind fashion’s most beautiful things were ever going to be sensitive to race, black women, or how they represent our cultural history. In fact, I’m not exactly sure why this was a shock to anyone.”

But this ANTM shoot was put together by Tyra Banks: Black model, creator, host, head judge and executive producer of the show. You’d think that she would be sensitive to racial issues. I have to assume her intent was probably to showcase bi-racial beauty. Is this a case in which the action can be forgiven if the motive comes from a good place?

Or you can also visit any of the growing number of posts we’ve put up recently dealing with blackface:

Blackface and the Violence of Revulsion

Convo about Blackface on Episode 121 of Addicted to Race

And then share your comments. Y’all are going to have to do the deconstructing for me today. I will return when I regain control of language.

Share and Enjoy:

Trackbacks & Pings

This Week in Diversity: Halloween Masquerades « the open book on 30 Oct 2009 at 5:10 pm

[...] Closer to home, this week’s America’s Next Top Model featured the competitors being dolled up as biracial: makeup, often darkening their skin; wigs; clothes that are a “fashion interpretation” of their cultures’ historical clothing. Dodai at Jezebel looks at it suspiciously, pointing out that “the problem, of course, is that race is not silver eyeshadow, a bubble skirt or couture gown. It’s not something you put on for a photo shoot to seem ‘edgy.’ Race is not trendy.” Still, she has mixed feelings: “Her intent was probably to showcase bi-racial beauty. Is this a case in which the action can be forgiven if the motive comes from a good place?” Thea at Racialicious, on the other hand, has no mixed feelings: she’s just angry. [...]
numbers numb « まだ分からへん on 02 Nov 2009 at 5:04 am

[...] Blackface/colorface on the latest America’s Next Top Model. UHHHHHH, ISSUES. And, can’t look [...]
Cheerleader Blackface: The Cultural Function of Pretend Shock | Racialicious - the intersection of race and pop culture on 03 Nov 2009 at 8:01 am

[...] fatigue, I haz it. Who here is tired of reading about blackface? Because I sure am tired of writing about it. And at this point I [...]
ANTM: Hapa Hot Mess « The Pretty Year on 03 Nov 2009 at 7:18 pm

[...] There’s an elephant in the room, so let’s go ahead and address it. Masquerading as another race is generally a problematic exercise alone, but [...]
Mochi Blog | “Colorface:” When an Ethnic Identity is Reduced to Makeup and Trends on 05 Nov 2009 at 9:36 pm

[...] Lara Stone painted to look black (and dressed in requisite tribal garb). Even closer to home, an America’s Next Top Model episode required its contestants to be painted and dressed for a ‘biracial’ photo shoot. The ANTM girls [...]
Body Impolitic - Blog Archive - » Blackface/Colorface: A Face of Racism - Laurie Toby Edison: Photographer on 18 Nov 2009 at 2:35 am

[...] Thea Lim at Racialicious says in reaction to the color face on America’s Next Top [...]

Comments

Seattle Slim wrote:

I was foaming at the mouth last night when I saw it. Something in the milk wasn’t clean, and I too cannot really foam a coherent argument, because it’s just so off.

It’s almost as if Tyra’s thoughts were two:

1) Mixed race people are exotic, so she’s fetishized them. I think we can see she has that issue as witnessed throughout her career.

2) Women of color, be they Polynesian, Hispanic or Black, are only exotic when they are imitated by non-WoCs.

Posted 29 Oct 2009 at 12:46 pm ¶
Asada wrote:

All I wanna say,
why didnt they change Sundai’s skin to resemble “typical ethnic” Russians!?

I had to change the station…

Posted 29 Oct 2009 at 1:01 pm ¶
Deaf Indian Muslim Anarchist wrote:

oh dear sweet baby Jesus.

Posted 29 Oct 2009 at 1:14 pm ¶
novascotiagirl wrote:

It just seems bizarre that Tyra would think it was okay to decide that because she personally is okay with painting one of the models half black and have Japanese and doesn’t see it as “blackface,” that other people of colour (including other black people who are not so okay with it) would not find it offensive to see their races mashed together with face paint and stereotypical dress on a white model. How f***ing presumptuous. She combines East Indian and Native American by painting a white girl brown, dressing her in a sari, putting a dot on her forehead and a feathered headdress on her head. Are you kidding? How f***ing reductive to the complexity of what it means to be a person of mixed race. And of all the combinations to put together, whose identities have been inappropriately shoved together by colonizers. People of mixed race were exoticized so explicitly in this show. That they included one of the white, painted models saying, “I feel so exotic,” blows my mind. Are you kidding me? Not to mention the fact that Tyra kept referring to people of mixed race as “half” something which, as many posters on this site have noted, suggests they are something other than a whole person who needs to be broken down in to bits of racial heritage in order to be appropriately pigeonholed. F***!
The whole time it was on my partner and I kept saying to one another, “is this actually on TV?” It was f***ing surreal and awful.
And as my friend astutely noted in her own rage-filled email, “THE OTHER thing that irked me about that shoot was they were posing in a freaking sugar cane field. And Tyra gave a whole spiel how the sugar can industry brought people of different races to Hawaii to prosper. Umm Tyra — the sugar can industry also brought different races to America. It was called SLAVERY.
Another beef I have is them going to these ‘exotic’ locations and posing in ridiculously expensive clothes, with no concept of hwo detached they are from local realities.”

PS – the F*** word appeared in this about three times as many times when I wrote it initially. I have been fuming all day.

*exhale.

Posted 29 Oct 2009 at 1:14 pm ¶
novascotiagirl wrote:

And furthermore, saying that you’re not dressing the models up as they dress now, does not exonerate you from reducing complex cultures to fashion stereotypes. And also her conflation of nationality and race was pretty f***ed up.

Okay, I’m done.

Posted 29 Oct 2009 at 1:19 pm ¶
gloss wrote:

I had to leave the room and turn up the volume on my music last night when that segment aired. There’s nothing remotely redeeming about it — the narration & comments were bad enough, but the actual make-up and imagery make me ill.

Posted 29 Oct 2009 at 1:20 pm ¶
Eva wrote:

I didn’t get why they didn’t lighten Sundai’s skin. Since they darkened the other women’s skins they should have lightened Sundais.

The thing that bothers me about colorface is that it reduces race to something like make up. It trivializes race like, “I’ll put this on and then I’ll take it off tonight.” It’s the same as if I a thin woman were to put on a fat suit just “to see what it felt like to be overweight.” It reduces the real life experience of a person to a costume.

Posted 29 Oct 2009 at 1:24 pm ¶
Kit wrote:

This is the second season she’s done something like this too – she did a photoshoot for a Got Milk? ad in season four with the same basic idea, and had the girls pose with kids of the same ethnicity she had them made up as. http://is.gd/4HldR (Links to the Wikipedia section about the episode)

Posted 29 Oct 2009 at 1:27 pm ¶
DaisyDeadhead wrote:

Re-tweeted in abject amazement.

Reinforces my belief that Tyra often enjoys openly and deliberately humiliating those young women.

Whoever “takes it” best, wins!

Posted 29 Oct 2009 at 1:38 pm ¶
dejamorgana wrote:

Just when I think I couldn’t possibly be shocked any more by reports of reality TV stupidity, something like this comes in. I keep trying to tell myself Tyra Banks is trying to do some kind of conceptual art piece to encourage discussion of racial representations, or to highlight how people of mixed race are underrepresented in fashion, or even to remind people that “biracial” doesn’t always mean black and white. But even if I could convince myself that her intentions were that good, I’d still be stumbling over the massive failure in taste, the insulting exotification of other cultures, and what seems like a major Fuck You from Tyra to all real biracial aspiring models, who weren’t “pretty enough” to get on the show in the first place, but whose “exotic beauty” can be perfectly replicated by some white girl from Indiana with a little makeup on.

I just love (by which I mean “hate with a blazing, soulrending, vitriolic fury”) how Tyra tells the models to embody their fake ethnicities, “think of what those people were like…” as if she or any of these models could possibly have any idea.

I just love that being an “exotic mix” means basically that you wear a gigantic bone necklace and have no shoes.

I especially love that biracial people ALWAYS have dark skin. I’ll have to go ponder how to explain that to my two light-skinned biracial daughters. Or maybe I’ll just send them off to Tyra for lessons on how to look and be authentically biracial.

Posted 29 Oct 2009 at 1:39 pm ¶
Marcus Kwame wrote:

Wow… this is why I don’t watch “reality TV.” It’s often not reality based and yet it draws on some of the more vexing realities of America, “ethnic” caricatures, generalizations, fetishizing those viewed as “other” etc. Not a good look Tyra.

Posted 29 Oct 2009 at 1:46 pm ¶
usha wrote:

Gracious.
I have a very low opinion of Tyra as it is, but I must say that I’m actually shocked.

Posted 29 Oct 2009 at 1:48 pm ¶
pamused wrote:

i don’t know why i got so nauseated over last night’s ANTM. let’s remember the photo shoot was dreamed up by the same genius who bravely pursued an ‘expose’ in a fat suit.

tyra’s twisted sense of altruism yielding offensiveness is one thing; it’s quite another that her supreme power means that none of her staff can stick their hand up to suggest that, um, perhaps this idea is inappropriate?

maybe the tyra kool-aid is just that good.

Posted 29 Oct 2009 at 2:00 pm ¶
Phil Deeze wrote:

Tyra did this exercise for another season of the show. The ladies were re-creating other famous shoots with famous celebs. One of the gals was assigned Grace Jones. But her skin-tone was nowhere near Grace, so they “darkened” her up and the model was CLEARLY bothered by it. I was uncomfortable watching that segment as well.

Ugh.

Posted 29 Oct 2009 at 2:07 pm ¶
Kaonashi wrote:

Yay, because biracial people don’t get fetishized enough in this world! FAIL

There are people in this world that I simply don’t expect much from, and Tyra is on that list. Unlike the “Got Milk” photoshoot that had a pretty solid concept where everyone swapped (and posed with babies) This smacked of “How damn exotic are these people?” and it really made me cringe.

Posted 29 Oct 2009 at 2:08 pm ¶
Tara K. wrote:

Did anyone notice the little “disclaimer” she threw in where she explained that this wasn’t supposed to represent how “these people” really were or ever had been? I thought, “Yeah, so you know this is insanely inappropriate but you just have to do it anyhow. And you think this little bit will make it alright?”

I think it shows incredible cultural insensitivity and I think Tyra approached it not as a black woman but as modern, superior American exoticizing other races/cultures through a colonialist lens.

Posted 29 Oct 2009 at 2:24 pm ¶
Adrienne wrote:

Where have you been? Tyra did this in a previous season of ANTM and with each model posing with a child. They called it changing them to another ethnicity/race/color or something like that.

I think this episode illustrates precisely what the fashion industry does with the images of women all for the sake of fashion.

If the fashion world was a person, a good psychiatrist would have a field day.

Posted 29 Oct 2009 at 2:24 pm ¶
N wrote:

I was too disgusted to even send y’all the link this am.
Tyra has ISSUES!!!!!

Posted 29 Oct 2009 at 2:38 pm ¶
ktrujillo wrote:

Isn’t this the same show that had the models pose as crime scene victim corpses a couple of seasons ago? I guess they had to go all out to stoop lower than that.

Posted 29 Oct 2009 at 2:43 pm ¶
refresh_daemon wrote:

That hurts my soul. I feel like it would be useful for PoC in positions of power to have an advisor to consult before they make public displays that hinder the path of racial justice. Call them a “color conscience”. Anyone care to buddy up with Tyra and help her with her lucidity?

Posted 29 Oct 2009 at 3:10 pm ¶
Cindy wrote:

I saw the ads for the upcoming episode and thought, “This will be a Racialicious post. I’m sure of it. It has to be.”

I feel Tyra has lost her way.

Posted 29 Oct 2009 at 3:15 pm ¶
Thea Lim wrote:

Hey, can anyone confirm whether or not Tyra used the past tense while instructing models to think about “what these people WERE like”?

Because that would just kick the utter bizarreness and disgustingness up a level.

Posted 29 Oct 2009 at 3:40 pm ¶
foshothoyo wrote:

i am glad i didn’t watch this…i probably would have had an aneurysm.

from now on, i am boycotting the projects and products associated with anybody affiliated with this show in any way. I am going to look at the credits and make damn sure. I suggest everybody else do the same, loudly.

Posted 29 Oct 2009 at 3:46 pm ¶
Patrick wrote:

I was especially horrified by Tyra at judging, asking “what sort of HAPA, were you?” and explaining that hapa was “this thing they have in Hawaii.” Something about the way she emphasized the word as if being mixed was this new exotic trend she just heard about and was now showing off to educate her viewers. Congrats Tyra, you learned a new word, now shut the fuck up and learn how to use it properly.

Posted 29 Oct 2009 at 4:05 pm ¶
wendi muse wrote:

i mean not to hate on tyra…but
ok wait, my bad. i DO hate on tyra all the time
but in this case, the only thing i managed to say when i saw it on jezebel was, “what does BIRACIAL look like, exactly?”

i know plenty of multiracial people and they come in a variety of appearances, so how tyra and the gang could render this into a makeup job and a weave replacement is beyond me…totally beyond

Posted 29 Oct 2009 at 4:15 pm ¶
Julia wrote:

“Isn’t this the same show that had the models pose as crime scene victim corpses a couple of seasons ago? I guess they had to go all out to stoop lower than that.”

Indeed. And also the very same that had the models pose as homeless people …

I must say that I have great respect for how ?Tyra has created her own little empire on her own terms, but I can’t respect choices like this. Isn’t she too smart to be this…well…clueless??

Posted 29 Oct 2009 at 4:18 pm ¶
Tracey wrote:

I’ve felt for a while Tyra is out of her damn mind and a either completely intellectually conflicted or a straight up freakin hypocrite. This solidifies it even more. She goes on and on about promoting healthy body image, wanting people to love their natural hair, encouraging people to be themselves, etc. etc. then pulls crap like this. I was done with her several times before, but this may very well take the cake. I haven’t watched ANTM in a while b/c her hypocrisy got to me and it doesn’t look as if I will start back up. The list of two-faced things Tyra has done is too long for me to get into. That I once loved ANTM is something I would like to forget and pretend never happened.

Posted 29 Oct 2009 at 4:19 pm ¶
Tamara wrote:

Tyra….again? Really? Wow. Recycling photoshoots again? Hmmmph.

Posted 29 Oct 2009 at 4:32 pm ¶
MoonCat wrote:

Dear Tyra,
It wasn’t cute the first time. It wasn’t cute the second time, even if you used babies. It certainly isn’t cute this time.
I don’t get it. CREATIVITY AND SENSITIVITY FAIL.

Posted 29 Oct 2009 at 4:44 pm ¶
jaimeteaspoon wrote:

I saw this too and this is offensive beyond words. I remember a couple of years ago that a beautiful women from my tribe tried out for ANTM but didn’t make the cut. It would have been so refreshing to see a Native American face on the show; but instead we see a white girl browned up with a feather headress trying to look “STOIC”. I shot so many hate daggers with my eyes at the screen. Couldn’t look away because I was in shock. Is this 2009?

Posted 29 Oct 2009 at 4:47 pm ¶
GüeraLola wrote:

WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah I’m an antro major and I just read this on Jezebel and let me write this
1. Biracial does not equal to dark skin or white skin and vice a versa.
2.Mixed race people not are exotic
3. two unrelated people who happen to be biracial( Let’s say Asian and Greek ) Those two people will NOT look the same.
I don’t have any respect for this woman (mostly due to the soup). and this just lowers my opinion of her.

Posted 29 Oct 2009 at 5:14 pm ¶
Melanie wrote:

This is crazy. Seriously. People have lost their minds. Since I don’t watch this show I’m assuming none of the models objected or expressed discomfort in any way?

Not that it will help but does anyone know contact info for the show to let them know how offensive and just plain wrong they are?

Posted 29 Oct 2009 at 5:31 pm ¶
lost.krissy wrote:

I first heard about this from E! Online, and I think what upsets me the most about this whole ordeal are the comments I found at E! All of the commenters were complaining that E! was fishing for controversy and that they did not thing that the concept was offensive it at all.

I find it tremendously disheartening that just because America is more accepting of other cultures, people believe that racism doesn’t exist and that PoC shouldn’t be so sensitive to these issues. More people need to realize that PoC, while proud of their heritage, just want to be treated like a normal person where their race isn’t pointed out constantly. Of course, race comes into play at times, but we don’t need it to be rubbed into our faces all the time.

Tyra had good intentions, I suppose, but by having white models portray biracial women, she alienated the very people she was trying to empathize with.

Posted 29 Oct 2009 at 5:41 pm ¶
Big Man wrote:

Jezebel sounded naive.

Just because you have black skin doesn’t mean you care about issues regarding race. It doesn’t mean you make the right decisions. It doesn’t even mean you’re righteous. It just measn you have black skin.

Tyra is looking out for Tyra.

Period.

Posted 29 Oct 2009 at 5:44 pm ¶
Abram wrote:

Unreal… I hate ANTM already, but last night was indeed unsettling… Tyra needs to apologize….

Posted 29 Oct 2009 at 6:07 pm ¶
JD wrote:

i dont understand why this show absolutely loves doing blackface. this is not the first time this has happened on the show, but hopefully it WILL be the last. …and why mixed race people? did she think she was being conscientious and accepting..?

why tyra, why….??????

Posted 29 Oct 2009 at 6:24 pm ¶
A.D. Nix wrote:

What bothers me most about Tyra is that she manages to be so fucking clueless at such a high volume. Like, sonic boom loud. Amplified not only by her two TV shows, but by the fact that she’s a woman of color doing this so . . . it must be cool, right? (See: Bill Cosby)

AND each time she puts on this sort of show, she thinks she’s doing something deep or ground-breaking – opening our eyes. Miss Tyra, open yours first.

Posted 29 Oct 2009 at 7:00 pm ¶
B wrote:

was anybody else bothered by her “do you know who the most famous hapa in the world is?” *jumping up and down* “president barack obama!!”

my dad HATES tyra, now i’m starting to understand why.

Posted 29 Oct 2009 at 7:06 pm ¶
Bekka wrote:

This episode actually made me nauseous, I had to stop watching. What on earth could they possibly be thinking? This required not just one or two individuals but an entire team of producers and cast people to go along with the concept – not one of them had something to say about this?

Posted 29 Oct 2009 at 7:20 pm ¶
submom wrote:

Speechless. Ok. I lied. No need for me to put my vent into words here since all the PPs have said pretty much all that I could think of in my confused state of mind. I just want to highlight the part that bothers me the most, if it is possible for me to choose, what did she mean by “What these people WERE like?” Were?

Posted 29 Oct 2009 at 7:44 pm ¶
thebibliophile wrote:

@ 7 DaisyDeadHead

Thank you for pointing out that Tyra enjoys humiliating these womyn, sure that she is teaching them how to grown. I think her projection and displacement of her issues onto these womyn builds a realy case for the internalized oppression that womyn smack each other upside the heads with…

Also, did anyone see Vampire Diaries which was right before? They had a “flasback” complete with stoic silent slaves, and an uncoded rape in the “turning” of one of the female slaves….when this came on right after….all I could think about is how it was a hot stinking mess that fell off the dump truck….

Posted 29 Oct 2009 at 8:07 pm ¶
ashlynn wrote:

Say it with me, Racialicious,

EVERYTHING BUT THE BURDEN!

Posted 29 Oct 2009 at 9:09 pm ¶
CVT wrote:

I feel like I should say something . . . but I’ve got nothing. This blows my mind. I expect the media to do ridiculous, racist ish all the time .. . but this is something SPECIAL.

Damn.

Posted 29 Oct 2009 at 9:26 pm ¶
Cass wrote:

Thanks for posting my tip! However, I wanted to correct myself amidst the confusion/upset regarding Tyra’s instructions. I misremembered and misquoted her, for which I’d like to apologize.

Re-watching the clip, she instructs Erin (Tibetan/Egyptian) to, “Think about Egypt, the people, what they’ve been through…” In an earlier scene, Jay Manuel advises Erin to, “Feel that spirituality of Tibetan culture, it’s all about ritual.”

Ultimately, the goal of the shoot was, according to Jay Manuel, to “portray two very distinct races.”

If anyone would like to see the photos of the other girls not mentioned in the Jezebel post, you can view them here:
http://www.popcrunch.com/americas-next-top-model-biracial-photoshoot-pics/

Basically all the girls, except Sundai (Moroccan/Russian) had their skin darkened.

Jezebel has also posted some clips from the episode as well as past ANTM clips of Cycle 4 photoshoot in which “the girls were each assigned a race different from their own that they were supposed to embody for a Got Milk? ad, while holding a child.”

http://jezebel.com/5392836/antm-biracial-is-the-new-black-face/gallery/1

Again, I’m very sorry for misquote! Please update/edit accordingly.

Posted 29 Oct 2009 at 11:11 pm ¶
Lau wrote:

I just feel there are two quotes from this episode (that i watched with pen in hand) that NEED to be shared:

“I think you perfectly emobody Native American and East Indian” – Jay, refering to white model.

“I see Botswana…it’s almost National Geographic.” – Nigel, when talking about model in blackface.

WHAT?! Argh!!!!!!!

Posted 29 Oct 2009 at 11:32 pm ¶
KC wrote:

“It’s the same as if I a thin woman were to put on a fat suit just ‘to see what it felt like to be overweight.’ ”

Which Tyra did in a segment on her show.

I saw this episode last night. It was painful to watch. Did anyone catch Tyra’s advice to the white girl who was supposed to be “Native American/East Indian”? It was something like “Imagine that you’re watching an eagle soaring across the sky.” Freaking train wreck.

Not like I expect much better from ANTM these days. It’s no secret that there’s a token [something] almost every season so Tyra can exhibit just how damn progressive and accepting she is.

Posted 30 Oct 2009 at 1:18 am ¶
RCHOUDH wrote:

After the Australian TV show debacle and the whole controversy with the European model in blackface, I’m sad to say that I’ve become jaded to seeing colorface…I think that’s the danger in society. For a long time, society forbade the use of colorface but now it’s slowly creeping back in the name of entertainment and fashion…and Tyra really should have known better but I guess she thought she was being “edgy and educational” all at the same time (like she usually thinks she is on her shows). She seems like she usually has good intentions when bringing up social issues but the way she brings forth the issues is problematic.

I also find it interesting that they didn’t change the black model using whiteface…why not go all the way since you did it to the rest of them?? I’ve stopped watching ANTM a long time ago and now I know I’m not going back sorry Tyra!

Posted 30 Oct 2009 at 1:28 am ¶
RCHOUDH wrote:

Oh just wanted to add that with the gradual return of colorface more and more people will not find it shocking anymore the same way they did when it was socially ostracized not too long ago. What’s next seeing old Vaudeville shows resurrected?

Posted 30 Oct 2009 at 1:30 am ¶
petitfour wrote:

This episode was like a trainwreck, I just couldn’t tear my eyes away. Just so so wrong.

Posted 30 Oct 2009 at 2:28 am ¶
Camille wrote:

I love nice clothes and pretty pictures of them, but I’d rather wear burlap rags every day than suffer the clan of rampant racists that constitute the global fashion industry.

If Tyra shows us anything, it is that she is a loud shrill voice of that community, worse yet she represents the most PROGRESSIVE elements in that world. Yes folks, brown body paint and a fur hat cocked to the side is AS GOOD AS IT GETS with these clowns.

I’d support some letter writing, but honestly what could the letter say? This isn’t about policy change at the station, these tv and fashion people are racist and awful AT THEIR CORE. No amount of letters is gonna change that.

Posted 30 Oct 2009 at 2:34 am ¶
Shauna wrote:

@phil deeze: yes, but that girl was upset because she felt that with dark skin she wouldn’t be pretty. Also that girl wasn’t supposed to be changing races, just more accurately portraying a woman of the same race.

Posted 30 Oct 2009 at 2:42 am ¶
Phil Deeze wrote:

@ Shauna,
Which proves my point. That lady KNEW, for a fact, that her natural skin tone, the one her parents gave her, was what she looked best in, period. And that photo didn’t even look natural. It barely looked like a live woman. I could almost hear Gene Anthony Ray from “Fame” singing “Maaaaaaaaaanequinn!!!!” Changing races isn’t the entire issue—it’s playing with colors, in general, claiming it to be an exercise, but what it really is and what this last incarnation of the episode is would be considered using blackface to further stereotypes. Not good, Tyra. Not good. But Shauna, I see what you’re saying.

Posted 30 Oct 2009 at 7:04 am ¶
ravi wrote:

can you include tyra’s email or network email so we can flood them with complaints?

Posted 30 Oct 2009 at 9:44 am ¶
Aiyo wrote:

This isn’t the first time Tyra has done this in cycle 4 they did this got milk photshoot where the girls were painted different races

Posted 30 Oct 2009 at 10:08 am ¶
n wrote:

@Shauna
“more accurately portraying a woman of the same race” ???

Not sure if those are your words or you are explaining what the show said they were trying to do. But geez, wtf?
How the f-u-c-k can a person not be “accurately” portraying their own race. If they are of that race, their representation is accurate. Perhaps not always typical or common, but still its an accurate representation of a [insert race] person.

Pisses me off. Are we back to the days of Lena Horne in blackface because she had to be darkened up so people would know she was black? How very insulting.

All of this is. And now Tyra is dressed up as a Kardashian. That girl needs to get over her self hatred and sick fascination with mestije.

Posted 30 Oct 2009 at 10:22 am ¶
Brooke wrote:

@lost.krissy #31 – EW.com’s comments were virtually all the same, too. NO ONE understood that this was bad. They all seemed to believe that Tyra wasn’t making fun of POC, and therefore it wasn’t colorface, and it was just fashion and fun and all was well.

Plus, Tyra being a WOC gave it complete legitimacy in their eyes. argh.

Posted 30 Oct 2009 at 11:52 am ¶
Molly McCullough wrote:

In addition to the appalling and offensive notions that encompass fetishism/exoticism/tokenism, the photo-shoot in this ANTM episode established a fossilized representation of the ethnic “Other” to be consumed by Western desire. In addition to the other insightful comments, I believe it’s important to understand the overriding power (not to mention the visceral immediacy) of the image in its ability to obscure a colonial history that is rife with violence. The perpetuation of racist ideology is further implicated in the use of Whiteness to serve as a conduit in order to represent/assume/emulate a racialized ontology.

Posted 30 Oct 2009 at 12:25 pm ¶
Creetch wrote:

Mod Note - Creech, I deleted your comment. Let me refer you to this statement from the “ABOUT THE BLOG” section:
Racialicious is a blog about the intersection of race and pop culture.

If you think this is “trivial,” fine, but respect this space. Any further comments in this vein will get you banned. – AG

Posted 30 Oct 2009 at 12:53 pm ¶
Gina wrote:

I did see on another forum someone asking, Why are we surprised? Fashion is a loathsome industry, and Tyra’s been in that industry since she was 14 years old. My only thought was, Great, so she’s been stupid a long time. She won’t change. So I don’t want an apology from her – it would be meaningless. I just want her to no longer have a global platform from which to spew her noxious ideas on race.

I agree that boycotting the advertisers (and telling them why) would help. As will boycotting the show (and telling the network why). But Tyra herself is a lost cause. Maybe in twenty years when she’s no longer considered beautiful (not saying it’s right, just saying it’s true) she’ll be able to empathize with other people instead of othering and fetishizing them. Til then, she’s pathetic and beyond help.

Posted 30 Oct 2009 at 1:27 pm ¶
JBH wrote:

I watched a clip of this episode. And, as Tyra admitted, there was a “fashion interpretation” of this episode. I can understand that.

However, when the white model, Nicole, said “I think I look exotic.” Ugh. Now, I’m offended.

C’mon, Tyra, please don’t perpetuate the “ooo…all mixed race people are exotic” stereotype!

Posted 30 Oct 2009 at 1:35 pm ¶
Cakes wrote:

@ Patrick’s comment:
“I was especially horrified by Tyra at judging, asking “what sort of HAPA, were you?” and explaining that hapa was “this thing they have in Hawaii.”

Did she really say this? Can anyone else verify? I’m so, SO glad I did not catch this episode, but I’m beyond steamed. In addition to all the rampant exoticism and the awfulness of her other comments. If she really referred to us as “this thing”…words fail me…

Tyra, you need to fix yourself. Real bad.

Posted 30 Oct 2009 at 3:43 pm ¶
Cass wrote:

@ Cakes:

During the judging, Tyra explains to the rest of the panel, “The girls were representing something in Hawaii called ‘hapa’; hapa means half: half one race, half another race.”

Posted 30 Oct 2009 at 8:10 pm ¶
Miles Ellison wrote:

All I have to say is that Tyra Banks is an idiot.

Posted 30 Oct 2009 at 8:45 pm ¶
m. wrote:

I had no idea two Caucasian ethnicities = biracial? (Moroccan + Russian.) Also, two nationalities (Mexican + Greek) automatically = biracial, as well? Ugh, now I can just see all these people around claiming they’re “mixed” and they “know how it feels” to be exoticized just because they’re multi-ethnic. Riiight.

Also, really love how my race is just a big, brown monolith covered in feathers. Everyone else has an ethnicity/culture, except for those of us who are just “Native American”. Same goes for ‘Polynesian’. Uh, WHAT Polynesians? Really loathing the fact that people are still doing this to us on our own land! (In case no one knows what I’m talking about, all the other mixes represented were really specific – i.e. Japanese + Malagasy, Tibetan + Egyptian, Botswanan, East Indian.)

Posted 31 Oct 2009 at 12:52 am ¶
p wrote:

it’s unfortunate the power she wields over impressionable young people. but i’m not surprised or shocked or horrified at any inappropriateness coming from celebrities. they live in a different world from 99.9% of the rest of us. they are so removed from the everyday person and so filthy rich that it is not surprising they would trod over good sense and taste. they are lost in their own rarified and ridiculous world and feel absolutely vastly superior from the rest of us. that they might say or do things that are offensive and misguided is a natural outcropping of their overinflated position in our society and narcissistic attitudes about themselves and disdain of others. we’ve raised tyra up to dizzying heights with her power, fame and fortune and frankly, so she’s become one of the filthy rich, out-of-touch celebs, paternalistically thinking she knows what’s best. in her mind, she probably was thinking this whole debacle was a good idea with little notion about how others might perceive it.

Posted 31 Oct 2009 at 9:25 am ¶
chicagorose wrote:

Oh Dear God. Tyra needs an intervention. For every one step forward she takes at least three steps back. She tries but she fails. In my heart of hearts I love her but DAMN Tyra. DAMN.

Posted 31 Oct 2009 at 11:05 am ¶
ashlynn wrote:

“Just because you have black skin doesn’t mean you care about issues regarding race. It doesn’t mean you make the right decisions. It doesn’t even mean you’re righteous. It just measn you have black skin.”

I have to remember this every time I hear a POC justifying or apologizing for something that was at least, inherently bigoted or prejudiced. “Black models don’t know how to make connections.” “Tyra was trying to promote unity.” “Well, a lot of are on welfare…” “No, there is no such thing as unconscious racism.” Has the mental conditioning become so bad that we have begun to accept and settle for less than we deserve? Tyra is daft, yes, so in the scope of things an intelligent person wouldn’t pay her mind anyway. But because she is a young(ish) black person that reaches many, she negatively affects many. People watch her show, see not one natural child featured, then suddenly she wants to take the wig off and be that on-trend, biracial/mixed/3b-c kind of curly that is safe and not offensive. I don’t even need to describe the fat suit mess. I just find it very saddening, and frightening, when POC’s don’t own their color, their culture, and their rights, and allow others to trample all over them and take them away, bit by bit, day by day.

Posted 31 Oct 2009 at 12:07 pm ¶
octogalore wrote:

What a mess. We’ve watched the show from the beginning and have been amazed at the progression Tyra’s ego (and consequent ability to believe she has enough starpower to excuse execrable judgment) has taken.

I’m not even sure how this is applicable to the stated purpose of the show, which is to find the best model and teach modeling skills along the way. Presumably the best model to portray a biracial woman would be … newsflash, a biracial woman, and so that is who would be or should be chosen. So there would be no need for a non-biracial woman to have to pretend to be. There are enough beautiful women of all races or combinations of races so as to be able to find someone who actually is what is sought.

Therefore, the only point could be some kind of exploitative gimmick. Which, as many point out above, has become par for the course on ANTM.

Posted 01 Nov 2009 at 1:16 am ¶
Anna wrote:

every time I hear about colourface, I remember this film “Bamboozled”. Anyway, it makes me want to throw up or scream or something. Couldn’t they just have taken the outfits without the colour? that might have been interesting. Sharing or taking up for a show (which models are doing) an identity should be about this, showing/standing for/representing/being someone you don’t necessarily look alike. (colourface anyway does not really make you look like …)

In some European countries there’s a tradition over the Christmas holidays, children dress as the three wise men and go singing from door to door, … Usually, one of the children gets to “play” the black one of them (I keep forgetting the names…) and puts on blackface. I’ve always hated it.

It’s scaring that those things still exist or re-exist. What’s the purpose?

Posted 01 Nov 2009 at 1:28 am ¶
octogalore wrote:

For the record, the episode that convinced me of Ashlynn’s quote in #64 was the one in which she loudly dressed down black model Tiffany Richardson for not being weepy enough when she was sent home. Tiffany came from a poor background, had been abused as a child, had drug problems, and came on ANTM twice to have a modeling career (and has since had some success). She clearly was upset to be leaving but was trying to keep a stiff upper lip, which was entirely consistent.

Tyra needed more histrionics for marketing and seemed to have decided to use Tiffany for this purpose, since there was no other reason for her sudden outburst. Tyra succeeded and Tiffany finally did cry. Pretty much lost respect for Tyra at that point.

Posted 01 Nov 2009 at 1:28 am ¶
Shauna wrote:

@n not more accurately portraying “a black person”, more accurately portraying grace jones. to me, that photoshoot would’ve been comparable to a white person portraying scarlet johansen and having their skin lightened a bit. Grace Jones is very dark and a lightskinned black model didn’t want to get her skin darkened to portray her (the girl was a bit ditzy and into her looks, it was definitely not a moral objection)

Posted 01 Nov 2009 at 5:38 am ¶
DogsofWar wrote:

For a fleeting moment, one might’ve hoped against hope that this was a subversive plan by Tyra to “test” the ANTM contestants–namely, whoever resisted or refused to partake in this trainwreck would progress, while the colorfacers would be eliminated. Kinda like some subversive Willy Wonka-style trickery.

Then again, that would be proof we’re living in the Bizarro world where most people would knew the colorfacing is demeaning and offensive.

On a related note, I’m almost cringing at the thought of the next few days of post-Halloween blog reports, with plenty of “illegal alien” and “Rastaman” costume sightings to come

Posted 01 Nov 2009 at 8:54 am ¶
anon wrote:

“I had no idea two Caucasian ethnicities = biracial? (Moroccan + Russian.) ”

Uh, since when are moroccans or any other north africans for that matter considered caucasian/white? Must have missed the bulletin on that one.

Anyways, tyra clearly has some personal issues related to her own skin color. She’s obsessed with biracial people, doesn’t know the difference between nationality and ethnicity, and if she wanted all these racial combos on her show than she could have just put a more diverse crop of girls in the show than have them have all this paint/makeup crap smeared all over them. And why would she even do this shoot if, as she admitted, the models aren’t even properly depicting in clothes, etc the people whom they are supposedly portraying. What exactly was the point really?

Clearly she’s an idiot

Posted 01 Nov 2009 at 3:40 pm ¶
Celeste wrote:

If she really had this irrestable urge to colorface her models then she could have put them in colorface and compare the *ahem* authenticity of their portrayals of biracial women with actual biracial models. I’m sure that she could find some biracial models of the mixes listed if she looked hard enough. Then everyone could see just how stupid it looks to use colorface in place of actual diversity.

Posted 01 Nov 2009 at 3:51 pm ¶
m. wrote:

@anon:
Actually, the majority of North Africans ARE Caucasian. Look it up before making remarks about ‘bulletins’ as if my comment was so far-off and stupid. As for whether or not Moroccans are white…you seem to have a different opinion, but ‘white’ does not always = Western European, that’s a pretty archaic definition. The challenge was to depict BIRACIAL people, not ‘people who happen to be ethnically mixed’, hence the issue of “colorface”. North African is like Latin American – neither implies a specific race, ethnicity or nationality. You even said so yourself that Tyra doesn’t know the difference between ethnicity and nationality. Well, you just made the same mistake.

Posted 01 Nov 2009 at 6:33 pm ¶
m. wrote:

@anon:
Caucasian and white aren’t the same thing. There are some South Asians that are Caucasians, but they’re not white.

Posted 01 Nov 2009 at 6:41 pm ¶
brownstocking wrote:

I was going to be outraged, but I saw these pics

http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=176410

and the accompanying dumb-assed comments in various MBs. I mean, too much ignorance/stupidity/hatred/insensitivity at ONE party!

So I’m just going to bed. Too much stupid for one weekend.

Posted 02 Nov 2009 at 4:26 am ¶
n wrote:

@Shauna
Thanks for the clarification on the Grace Jones thing.

Posted 02 Nov 2009 at 11:56 am ¶
Kyra Kyles wrote:

I talked about this topic too in my blog, and created some basic rules for…um…cross-coloring. (I don’t know what to call this silliness.) I hope the intelligent commenters here will share their thoughts on my post as well. Good and interesting insights about Tyra. I just thought she got extra heat this time around. The other race-swap she did was ridiculous as well. Guess her timing was way off. Here are my thoughts on the matter: http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/kyles-files/2009/10/post-3.html

Posted 02 Nov 2009 at 3:41 pm ¶
foshothoyo wrote:

the battle continues…you might find this conversation interesting about the ANTM incident on the Tyrashow Website…please feel free to sign up and contribute.

http://community.tyrashow.com/forum/topics/wtf-racist-blackfacecolorface

Posted 02 Nov 2009 at 5:29 pm ¶
jlie wrote:

Poll:
“Was it in poor taste to feature models in dark makeup and stereotypical clothing?

No. It?s a beautiful celebration of bi-racial women. 53% ”

http://www.stylelist.com/blog/2009/10/29/blackface-on-americas-next-top-model/

I don’t understand. Why is it acceptable to so many people? I want to cry. I’m so offended by the bindi in a headdress image that i’m shaking.

Posted 03 Nov 2009 at 1:06 pm ¶
jlie wrote:

More on beauty. I don’t know about the rest of you but I do find the images ‘pretty to look at’ and I’ve read elsewhere people trying to justify this sort of racism because it’s done aesthetically well. My heart says ‘fuck that’ but I can’t put my thoughts into words. Beauty is skin deep, I think it’s a clue. How can something pretty be so painfully offensive? Can someone help me? Why can people condone racism if it’s done tastefully? Is it EVER fucking tasteful? No! but why, people, why?

Posted 03 Nov 2009 at 2:37 pm ¶
Crys T wrote:

@m The point is not what classification “science” can assign a person, but the attitudes of the world in which that person has to live. And in that world, Moroccans are not seen as belonging to the same race/ethnicity as Russians. To go further, I seriously doubt that most Moroccans and would say that they belong to the same race/ethnicity as Russians, and vice versa. So why the insistence on putting them in the same bag?

And in any case, as someone pointed out, Banks completely confused nationality with ethnicity and race. And most nations are nowhere near being homogenous. I don’t know much about Russia, but I imagine that in addition to immigrants (and their Russian-born children) of other ethnicities, there must be some indigenous minorities of Asian origin. And Morocco has long been a multicultural society. There are Berbers, Arabs, a lot of people whose ancestors came from other parts of Africa and some with some European ancestry, and, until relatively recently, Jews.

Posted 03 Nov 2009 at 3:09 pm ¶
dwbl wrote:

you know, i never read through the rest of the ‘epidemic’ that people are referencing, so might take back some of my comments from my pretty lengthy analysis that went unpublished.

it’s like. wtf is going through their heads. weirdos. why don’t you just get an original?

but, that’s boring TV. or at least, not sensational.

it’s top notch controversial TV when the show’s producers make the white models enter into the visual dialogue of ‘race.’ just to see wtf they do, that’s what we’re glued to the TV for. the “i can’t believe they’re doing this, i am going to keep watching” feeling.

that’s money in the bank…

Posted 05 Nov 2009 at 5:17 am ¶