Tyra Banks Apologizes For Skinny Waist 'Top Model' Clip
Access Hollywood
Tyra Banks keeps it fierce at the 4th Important Dinner for Women in New York City on September 23, 2009 Getty ImagesAccess Hollywood Last week, promos for Cycle 15 of the show, showed "Ann," a 6' 2" beauty from Dallas, whose selling point to the judges was her itty-bitty waist, a midsection so small, Miss J. Alexander was able to put his hands around her and touch his fingers and thumbs.
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Stars In Their Underwear
"On behalf of the entire Top Model team, I am truly sorry for the style in which the Top Model promo clip was presented," Tyra wrote on her blog on Monday.
In the clip, which has since been removed from the web, Tyra told her fellow judges, "There's something about her I like," after remarking on Ann's tiny waist.
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Scenes From Tyra's Bi-Racial Photo Shoot On 'America's Next Top Model' Cycle 13
The clip prompted a host of headlines including "Get Ready For 'America's Next Top Circus Freak,'" (The Frisky), and "Tyra Banks, champion or Hypocrite" (Chicago Now).
It also appeared to upset "ANTM" watchers as over the years the show has made a point of spotlighting models of different shapes and sizes.
"Seeing judges drool (or pretend to drool) over a skeletal girl in an industry that already worships unrealistic size zero frames is a new take for the show, and it just continues a year that has seen some major ups and downs in terms of body image in the modeling industry," AOL's Stylelist blog editors wrote.
VIEW THE PHOTOS: From Sexy Supermodel to TV Mogul: Hot Shots of Tyra Banks!
Examiner.com's Jodi Jill, suggested the move was odd for a show coming from Tyra.
"This new ploy for an audience on 'America's Next Top Model' doesn't seem like Tyra Banks the talk host extraordinaire who wants women to be happy in their own skin," she wrote.
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Model Mania: Hot Shots Of The World's Catwalkin' Beauties
While Tyra apologized on Monday, she also appeared to try and distance herself from the clip's release.
"Like all of my projects, I am extremely involved in 'America's Next Top Model' from casting the final contestants to conceptualizing the episode challenges, but with all the work and details that go into producing a TV show, I can't be 100 places at once (although I try), but it's just impossible for me to see everything that's created before it's released to all of you," Tyra wrote on her official website.
The judge and "Top Model" host added that the clip is no longer showing on The CW, the network that airs her reality competition series.
"I can assure you - that cut has been removed from the CW airwaves, and the message conveyed in that video was NOT intentional, and is certainly not Top Model- or Tyra-approved," she wrote. "Sometimes in the quest to have fun in a limited amount of time, especially in a 20-second promo, our overarching message can be misconstrued, and in this case it most certainly was."
"America's Next Top Model" Cycle 15 premiers on September 8 PM on The CW.
