 We are actually going to switch your ethnicities. I'm half black, so being transformed into a proud African woman for me is definitely an exciting experience. I can touch that up. To Nick Torres for this beautiful new art piece that complements my blue kitchen so well, I love it. Definitely check out her socials, which will be up on the screen. And if you guys want to hear her story on how she created this art piece, then stay tuned until the end of the video for all of that. Hey guys, it's Madison Harnish back in my blue kitchen for another crazy video. Welcome to my little corner on the internet. And if you enjoy deep dives into scams and unethical things going on, you'll probably like this channel. So don't forget to subscribe down below and give this video a thumbs up. And well, let's get into the video. A lot of people who watched my video on Tyra Banks' MLM wanted me to do a follow up video going into more of the shady things that Tyra has done. The reality is Tyra Banks is a business woman who was built most of her career and her empire around the exploitation and mistreatment of young women and under the guise of empowering them. What do I call myself? I don't know. I like to call myself the chairwoman and CEO of my company. A business woman and producer probably. Yeah, but then I did write a book too. I feel like in order for me to reach young girls and to have an impact, which is expanding the definition of beauty through entertainment, fun, fantasy and self-esteem. And the reason why I'm making this video is because Tyra was a role model for so many people. She built an empire on her own, seemingly the underdog, a black woman who has really created something special for herself and has made a name for herself. And that's incredible and so inspiring. And of course, no matter what in this video, I cannot take that away from her. No one can. But that message and that role model role is tainted when you look behind the curtain and see all the shady stuff that she's done and how she's almost built her career on the backs of younger women that she's exploited. There are so many other amazing females that we can look up to who didn't build a career by putting other women down. Now, this isn't to cancel Tyra and it's not for cancel culture. I do think people can change and should be given the opportunity to do better. That being said, with Tyra's most recent business decisions, I don't really think she's changed, but we'll get into that all. First, let's go into some of the recent clips that have resurfaced with America's Next Top Model. Now, as far as America's Next Top Model goes, there were a lot of articles that had come out talking about how Tyra would kind of exploit the models on the show by either using things that were really sensitive to them to cause drama. Today was probably the worst day I've had since I've been here. You know, I find out that one of my friends at home has died. It's really hard to have a friend just ripped away from you and you not even see it coming. I'm sitting next to Kim and she immediately just folds over and starts falling. Eileen is not having too much fun. I want you to even take all your nerves and take all of that and turn it into just like anger. Every bit of might in your body, I want to see it. And kind of just overall exploiting their story or sensationalizing a part of them and who they are. I have a background as a model. The show as you could probably guess is completely different from what living as an actual model is like. In fact, living as a model is not glamorous at all. People in America's Next Top Model after the show would go on to trying to become a model and then completely fail because everything that they learned was completely wrong. Agencies wouldn't take them seriously or wouldn't accept them into their agency because America's Next Top Model kind of has a bad name in the modeling industry. So these girls would kind of be left in the dust, literally nowhere to go after the show, no idea on what the real modeling world is like. And America's Next Top Model did nothing to help transition them into a legitimate modeling career after the show. They literally just booted them off and was like, go figure it out, even though we haven't really taught you anything. And we've now given you a bad rap in the modeling industry. There's been stories of girls who after America's Next Top Model had to resort to escorting because they couldn't get any modeling jobs. This was after being on a famous reality show that was supposedly helping build their careers. Of course, America's Next Top Model can't be fully to blame, especially for the really dark things that have happened to some models. But it is a pattern that you can see with a lot of models who end up going down really dark paths after the show with no help from Tyra Banks or her show. But I think the thing I have the biggest problem with regarding Tyra Banks is the fact that she continually claims that she is building women up. Yet throughout her show, she is putting women down and pinning them against each other. So let's take a look at some of those clips. So I really started after the show, because that really didn't do anything for my career, which it doesn't do anything for any model's career realistically. But a photographer from London hit me up, major photographer, Nick Knight, and he was like, hey, I see your photos online and I want to, you know, do a shoot with you. It went viral and I got campaigns from there and it hasn't stopped since. So was the show where the opportunities that you thought were going to come from the show that just never happened? Yeah. Well, that's why it went on because I thought like that was going to be a career starter, but it was really like a reality TV show. That's not what I signed up for. You made it in spite of the show? Well, I wouldn't like to say that because it was still like a part of my history and I'm really grateful for everything that I've done to get where I am. Did she say that? Yes. I discovered her on Instagram. Yeah. Yeah. Well, come on, I discovered her on Instagram. So and she's on the show. So what do you think that means? There you go. It must mean something. Yeah. I have nothing but love for my girls and my girls come from so many walks of life and so much pain and so much hardship and so much story. And a lot of times when people express themselves in certain ways, there's a reason. Yes. And I will respect her confidentiality in her life, but you have to give love to her. You're so actualized, Tyron. They're all my babies. Even the ones that act out. Girls, let's do it. Carrie D, you're from Fargo. Come on. I forgot. This is real, real modeling, guys, being cold as heck. There's a point where my body just literally takes over. Like, I feel like my skin and everything is just like pins and needles. Touch your hair. Put it underneath in the hair. Oh, this is pretty, girls. Okay, I give a shot. But when the camera got on me, you know, I try to just shake those shivers away and not let it show my face. I will say though, this is not entirely far from the truth of modeling because I did do a photo shoot once in a freezing river in the middle of winter with a block of dry ice in there to like give this smoky effect on the pictures. As a woman who's been through that, as Tyra Banks probably has gone through extreme pain in the modeling industry for a photo shoot, you'd think maybe she'd want to be kinder to the models on her show and not put them through that instead of putting them at risk for hypothermia and all that crazy stuff. Like, okay. He actually had to stop because she was so cold that she was kind of convulsing. As a model, you need to tell people when you're past your limit. It wasn't just that she was cold. It wasn't just that her teeth were chattering. She had reached the moment. So this woman who was trying to do as Tyra Banks said and go in the water for the photo shoot, she like reached her limit, but that's her fault because she didn't tell anyone. So Danielle, you went to the dentist, but she refused to have your gap closed. The gap is staying so good. Do you really think you can have a cover girl contract with the gap in your mouth? Yeah, why not? This is all people say. It's easily beautiful cover girl. It's not marketable. So Tyra, this woman that's empowering and lifting people up is telling another woman that because she has a gap tooth that she's not going to be a model because it's not marketable. It's not marketable. The fact that she talks about how much adversity she had gone through for being a woman of color and a model to turn around and then tell someone you're not going to make it because of this thing that's different about you. It's just so hypocritical. It's so different than her message that she supposedly has. It's just like, do you not see the hypocrisy in your own statements in the ways that you act? To make matters even worse, she had a white woman get a gap in her tooth and somehow that was marketable. What's the difference here? Now there's a twist. We are actually going to switch your ethnicities. The challenge here really is taking on the persona of that other ethnicity while in the photograph and owning it. I'm half black, so being transformed into a proud African woman for me is definitely an exciting experience. To be made up as a white woman, it's a little mind blowing. A black girl with a nose job. Come on. You are. You're a Jackson. Michelle is going to have it easy with no weight on her baby. We know that this is very wrong now. We all are aware that this is not good. We know. Why did you choose the cowboy hat? It's more on the simple side compared to the other hats so that I can go crazy with accessories and express myself without being cliche. You have this intensity to prove your sort of African-ness and I think that sometimes it's overbearing. It's just too much. It's sort of a layer on top of a layer. In response to trying to prove myself as an African, that's just where I come from. It's very natural to me and I did not choose that hat for the very specific reason that it's very cliche. The fabric that it's made from is very artificial, very cheap, fake kente. I didn't have the time and I'm running on. There's a different way of explaining yourself and being defensive and you're being very defensive and it's not attractive. Yaya takes a beautiful picture effortlessly. She's bringing something from inside but the other thing that Yaya brings from inside that is so ugly is that superiority condescending attitude. Another, there's just something that rubs me the wrong way when one woman tells another woman that their superiority complex is bad. It just always feels to me like a woman who's trying to knock down someone's confidence. I look at Yaya and I see someone who's really really passionate about their culture and who is confident in themselves and their culture and these judges just picked her apart for that literally. Like if you watch that, that's literally what happened and it's honestly infuriating. Both of you will pack your bags. I'm gonna turn to the law. Rebecca, I admire your emotion right now. It shows to me that this was something that's very important to you. Tiffany, I'm extremely disappointed in you. This is a joke to you. You've been through anger management. You've been through your grandmother getting her lights turned off to buy you a swimsuit for this competition and you go over there and you joke and you laugh. This is serious to these girls and this should be serious to you. Looks can be deceiving. I'm hurt. I am. But I can't change it, Tyra. I've been, if you can. You can't change what? I'm sick of crying about stuff that I cannot change. I don't have a bad attitude. Maybe I am angry inside. I've been through stuff. So I'm angry. Yes, but this is not, this is not, be quiet. Everybody, be quiet. That's what is wrong with you. Stop. This is because she loves me. I was rooting for you. We want from this. I can't just imagine someone else here and down there except my husband, you know. And if I shoot it to the whole world, you know, what's so special when I came? I just needed to go because we haven't got time and it's a real shame she wasn't comfortable being nude under her makeup. Hello. How do you feel about being the only plus-size model here? I'm sure of myself and you know that's who I am so that's fine. We don't have a picture for you and why is that? I just felt like I could not do it. It was not Ladylike to me. I get it. It's your religion. Her refusal to do the session didn't work for me. She was in front of me, that attitude. That was the problem for me, the attitude about it. She didn't even know what her argument was about why she didn't do it. She sort of like had half an idea. So those were some of the major things that came out about Tyra Banks specifically just kind of doing things that were a little bit controversial. I do have to know when Tyra Banks did a lot of these things. They weren't as widely accepted as controversial or bad things to do. But when you add up all the other puzzle pieces that I'm going to discuss today, you start to see a much bigger picture at play. Apart from the blatantly wrong incidents of Tyra saying that someone's look or appearance is wrong, there's also an overall image of how women are treated on the show that I want to showcase for you guys. America's next top model has consistently had their models do things that are dangerous and ridiculous and just overall they make them do embarrassing things for the show for ratings. This is humiliating. More and more each week. Watch this and tell me whether or not you think that this is ridiculous overkill and literally made for the purpose of embarrassing these women. Make it fierce, make it fierce, do something distract on me. So I think I did that in my face. When have you ever seen a model show where there's giant swinging pendulums that the models have to walk through? The modeling industry is gross and exploitative in itself, but they still never have models walk through giant swinging pendulums. Never. So what the heck? How this dude is acting so surprised in his face? He's like, what? Someone got hit by the giant swinging pendulums on our stage? We never saw that coming. Oh my gosh. I can't believe it. Like they purposefully put those there hoping that a model would get hit by them and fall for drama on their show. Meanwhile, it's a young girl who they are abusing on this show. It's just like, really? Really? So here they are once again making models walk on an uneven plank above water in heels. There's literally no point in doing this. I'm so confused. As soon as I stepped on it, with one foot, I like slid. I kept going after I fell off. I just kept on people's foul. So anyways, cue montage of insane, ridiculous, and dangerous runway challenges that Tyra Banks has had her models do. So before you step up those stairs, make sure ankles are straight. Okay, now you can exit. Not a bubble move, but it's just like it would not work improperly. I think I had got like a defective bubble or something. My whole thing is I concentrate on the emotion in my face and composing my face. So I get on and I was like, oh. Lord, I did not just say that. It was really bad. I've never felt more embarrassed at one time in my life. Why? So the disregard for models, the refusal to help young models in their career after the show and overall treating the women on America's Next Top Model like rags that they can use and then throw out is why I really have no respect for the show America's Next Top Model. But America's Next Top Model is not the only career endeavor that Tyra Banks has had. The only thing I'll say about Tyra Beauty, the emerald makeup line that Tyra Banks started that I did an entire video on. So I'm not going to repeat too much, but I will say Tyra Banks started a multi-level marketing company that she claimed would help empower women. But really, all that happened is a ton of women invested money into Tyra's company, and then they completely cut off their direct selling model, leaving their beauty tainers in the dust after pouring a ton of money into Tyra Beauty. Also as mentioned in the previous video, Tyra lied about going to Harvard Business School. She claims that she's a Harvard Business School graduate in videos and posts, but really all she did was get a certificate program through Harvard. That's still an admirable feat, but it's nowhere near the feat of going through Harvard Business School. It's just a little shady that she would allude to having a Harvard Business School degree when really all she has is a certificate. One of the most problematic things that Tyra Banks has done was her talk show, The Tyra Banks Show. There's a lot of really messed up stuff that happens on that show, so let's react to that. Here in my underwear, I'm used to doing this on, you know, a Victoria Secret runway or in a catalog, but not on the Tyra Show. So I didn't want to three, I want you to lose those under the canopy robes right now. Imagine going on to a talk show and being asked to get into your underwear. Do I think being in underwear is a big deal? Do I think no, like, you know, we all should be comfortable in our own skin, whatever, but I just imagine like showing up to the show being like, I'm here to watch the Tyra Banks show and then to be told to get into my underwear to participate as an audience member. I don't know, it's a little weird to bring it up. Once again, it feels like the exploitation of these younger women because you look in the audience and it's all young women there. Like I see maybe one dude looking at it from a distance, you can see that they strategically placed young women in the front in the cameras to get into their underwear to boost the ratings or something. So Catherine McPhee, a singer from American Idol came on to the Tyra Banks show and the topic that was chosen to be discussed was whether or not Catherine McPhee's boobs are real. And then Tyra goes on to feel her breasts. Of course, she asks Catherine for permission, but if you are on a talk show and this famous female celebrity asks you to feel your boobs, you're going to be on the spot. You're not going to know what to say. And you might say, yes, just out of awkwardness. Like think if a dude did this, an interviewer, a newscaster, any sort of celebrity person did this, everyone would be outraged. Now I want to talk about something that just rubs me the wrong way. And that is the way that Tyra Banks treated young men on her show. She made some really obvious sexual advances towards young men on her show and just made them very visibly uncomfortable. And I really want to talk about that because once again, if the rules were reversed, that would not be okay or acceptable. And in my opinion, at least we want female role models, female celebrities, people in the spotlight who are females who are inspiring other females. We don't want them to be creepy towards men. Obviously a lot of men are very creepy towards younger women on talk shows and things of that nature. But that doesn't mean that it's okay for a female in the spotlight to be doing the same thing. I guess what I have. No, you didn't. The fan G strings that say Team Robert, which is yours. This has a little stain on it. Oh no it doesn't. That's disgusting. And Team Taylor. This is not okay. This is not okay. So Tyra has Robert Patterson Pattinson. I forget how it's... But she has him bite her. And so wrong. Poor guy. Like I can't imagine how uncomfortable you have to be to go on a show. You're trying to just promote your work like, hey, like I just did this thing. It's kind of cool. Watch it if you want. And then the host is just like, bite me. Bite me. Oh yeah your your movie that's cool but bite me. Action too. I'm just like everything about this is so wrong. There's been a lot about really awkward talk shows nowadays like the Lily Sings show and how bad that went and everything. But nothing compares to how bad this show is. Nothing compares to how awkward and horrible the Tyra Bank show is. Here's another example of Tyra being kind of creepy to someone. She's having Bow Wow sit on her lap to explain the birds in the beat. If you ever fall in love with a woman and you want to rub your stem on her pedal, you have to put on gardening gloves. Especially after Tyra comments on Bow Wow's muscular, sexified body. And then she kisses him on the show and he looks shocked. She feels a dude's butt on her show. She asks the guy if he's been practicing safe sex. So I have to ask you a personal question, but you're on my Tyra couch and there are no personal questions. Were you practicing safe sex? Yeah. Whatever gender you are, you should never feel pressured into answering anything about your sex life. Well Mr. Elvis, you look hot to me. I like a little tummy to love. Thank you baby. A little extra tire around the waist. Then Tyra pretends to have rabies. Apologize to everybody. I'm not 100% today. I'm not feeling great. I jog a lot in my neighborhood and I was jogging today with some friends around my neighborhood. And a friggin dog bit me. Yeah, he bit me like right here. So it's like a little weird right now. I had to get rushed to the hospital and then the doctors are like, well did the dog look crazy or anything? And I'm like, well he was angry and he was like salivating. And they're like, okay, was it like foamy salivating or was it? And I'm like, well it was kind of foamy. And then they tested me and the dog has rabies and had to get a shot. Thank God it's not 20 years ago. If it was 20, 30 years ago, I would, you know, it would be really, really bad. So I'm feeling a little weird, but I'm okay. He barked at the audience because she had rabies. What are you doing? That's a bigger picture on some of the really shady, controversial things that Tyra Banks has done. But let's look at her latest business move and see how controversial that is. So Tyra Banks is planning to open up something called Model Land. I've never wanted to be a model for a day. Well, here's your chance thanks to Tyra Banks's new theme park. So Stephanie, what is this place? How does somebody just become a model? Tell us everything. Okay, well Sam, get ready for this. It's a 21,000 square foot attraction in Santa Monica. And you've just got to see these pictures inside. So all you can say is gold, glitz and glamour galore. This is just the lobby. And if you want to get past it, you've got to splurge on a ticket. So buying a ticket will get you in a room like this. Here you do a photo shoot complete with Tits font Tyra, but there's no word yet whether or not she's actually there in person. And you leave the day with your own personalised album. So tickets are as cheap as $56, but get this. They go as high as $1,500 too. So the pricier ticket gets you a makeover wardrobe, changes, goodie bags, a robe, VIP seating, and it officially opens May the 1st. So guys, would you ever drop money for such an experience? No. This is wise enough to know that my beauty is not defined by you. Beauty is all shapes and sizes, all colours and genders, young and old tall and short and thick. It's not marketable. Yeah, I said it. And while you may spend the rest of your life trying to convince people otherwise. And it's not attractive. Ever succeed because every single day, I will continue to fight your oppression that makes people feel like crap about themselves. That is so ugly is that superiority condescending attitude. You could say that model land is the aftermath of Tyra seeing her wrongdoings in America's next top model and all of her other following business ventures and trying to make up for it by creating this model land where everyone's beautiful and we all have the power to be a model and to be seen as accepted. But on a real note, modeling should not be the reason that you're accepted. It should just be for who you are. But in my opinion, model land comes across as a sad effort to capitalize on the growing positive movement of loving yourself and accepting differences within one another and appreciating the beauty of all women. And that's what frustrates me about this entire endeavor. On the model and website, here's an excerpt called from Tyra about what model land is from Tyra. Imagine at a time in your life feeling insecure or full of self-doubt. Imagine questioning your self-worth because you don't look like what the world has told you is good enough. Is that someone you know? Is that you? I believe all shapes and all sizes and all ages and all shades deserve to feel beautiful, powerful, and experience the fantasy versions of themselves. So Tyra Banks literally goes from saying if you don't look a certain way, you're not marketable to being like, well, I lied about that. Anyone can be beautiful. All standards, all shapes and sizes, anything. But also buy my ticket to this thing. So it almost feels like the woman that she made feel bad about themselves through her show, she now is trying to profit off of through model land and selling tickets so anyone can be a model. Well, that's completely different from what your entire show was about where you have to be special to be a model. A lot of this stuff on the tickets is also just really weird to me. Handcrafted model land elixir and an assortment of artisanal truffles. Veiled VIP sitting. This is for the fantasy dream. The most fanciest version. The ultimate concierge service. Additional wardrobe changes. Custom curated row for Instagram. The entire purpose is to curate photos for Instagram but also it's like an amusement park experience. Here's what they say. Model land is a wondrous place in Santa Monica, California where everyone can live the ultimate modeling fantasy. It's not a fantasy. It's a job. It's not a fantasy. The first of its kind, story driven attraction features fashion and beauty, photoshoots and runways, shopping and theater and most importantly you. No two visits to model land will ever be alike. If you really want to inspire a woman maybe start teaching that you don't just have to be a model to be accepted and liked. Can't there be like stem cell researcher land, biochemist land? Why does it have to be model land? Tyra Banks is literally entirely made of hypocrisy. It would be misleading of me to not mention a lot of Tyra's philanthropic endeavors and charities that she has donated to. She has done a lot of good work with that and has broken a lot of barriers for black women and that is amazing and no matter what isn't something that I can ever take away from her with a single video talking about problematic things she's done and I don't want to. It's just so sad to me to see a woman who claims to be an ally for other women use the same tactics I saw in the modeling industry that were meant to tear down and put down women. You could say like people are so dramatic that was in the past. Why are we making such a big deal out of it? Yes, it was in the past. I agree. So to hold Tyra Banks against her actions in the past when there was a lot of different social understandings would be wrong and unfair but at the same time I want to point out modeling itself shows that she's still using the same tactics that she's used in the past to make money. She started an MLM business that was claimed to lift women up but really just ended up stealing money from women and still hasn't spoken up about that. She put young women on America's Next Top Model through literal danger and torment. It wasn't just saying controversial things that are now controversial. There were dangerous things that she put young women through on her show and made millions off of doing so. We don't need another female figure doing the same or for women to think that this is a legitimate way to build success. Which is why it's so important to speak up about those things and that's really all I have to say on this topic. I just wanted to talk about it just to spread awareness on it. I do wish Tyra all the best. I admire her for all the great things that she's done. I just wish that it didn't come with all of the bad things. Thank you guys for the people that have been emailing me, messaging me and I'm so lucky and grateful for all of your support. And until next time, have a good one. Hi Edison, thank you so much for supporting my work. My name is Nick Torres. I'm a Toronto-based, Colombian-born artist. I work with mixed media and the painting that you have behind you is part of my Esperanza collection. Esperanza means hope which is a reflection of my feelings throughout these very difficult times right now. This collection was made entirely during quarantine and it has a lot of very somber colours but it also has a lot of bright colours and a lot of very bright metallics. This is to represent the feelings that we're going through right now of despair and uncertainty as well as the silver linings that a lot of us may have found during these difficult times as well. I believe that you can find beauty even in darkness. You can find a lot of my work on my Instagram and TikTok at NickTorresDesigns and you can buy my work at NickTorresDesigns.com. Thank you.