Dani Evans has responded to a resurfaced video of Tyra Banks criticizing her over her choice to keep the gap in her teeth.
Tyra Banks’ series America’s Next Top Model is jam-packed with moments in which Banks and her team of model specialists critiqued, consulted, and sometimes all-out insulted the show’s contestants. One of those moments was centered around the former participant, Dani Evans, who was on cycle 6 of the series. This week a clip from one of the season six episodes popped back up online, and now the Twitterverse is coming after Banks over her shrewd remarks.
In the clip, Evans comes down for her judgment with Banks’ panel. Evans had previously visited a dentist and was urged by Banks and her crew to close the gap in her teeth because they felt it wasn’t “marketable” as a model. “So Danielle, you went to the dentist, but you refused to have your gap closed,” Banks says to Evans. “Do you really think you can have a CoverGirl contract with a gap in your mouth?” Evans responds, “Yes, why not?” Mocking the placement of a gap, Banks sticks her fingers in her mouth and says, “This is all people see …it’s not marketable.”
Why was this allowed to air wtf Tyra banks is going to straight hell pic.twitter.com/xtiWl3srKJ
— Aisonycé📍 (@OladapoAisha) May 5, 2020
Of course, Black Twitter came ready with reads and receipts. One Twitter user even pointed out how a white contestant in Cycle 15 widened her gap per Banks’ request. “Tyra to Danielle Evans: Close your damn gap, girl. They are not gonna hide you if you are out there like that. Tyra to Chelsey Hersley: Your gap is cute, let’s make it wider! I’ve never met someone that was contradictory like that,” the user wrote.
Before all the drama started this week, there have been many who have spoken out against Banks’ words, like fellow model #SlickWoods, who also famously has a tooth gap. During a 2018 interview with Fashionova, Woods came down on Banks over her comments. “No one should ever talk to you like that @danievans1, that episode fucked up little Simone/Slick, so that’s how y’all feel tyrabanks miss_jalexander?”
Woods’ actions motivated Evans to speak out after denying press requests from news outlets. “I knew in that moment, after reading [Woods’] words, that I have a responsibility to address what really happened and to speak my truth,” she said. “But let me tell you what this video is not. This is not a video to war against anyone, this is not a video to defame anyone’s character, and this is not a video to discuss my relationship with Tyra. This is a video for me to speak my truth and to provide clarity and for me to address an issue that was done 15 years ago that carries weight, and that clearly affected a lot of young girls in America …”
Evans then explained the backstory about how she came to the show to get out of her hometown of Little Rock, Arkansas. “I had one goal in mind. That one goal was to get out of my hometown, to create a different, better life for myself. That was it,” said Evans. The model then said that there were moments that viewers did not see, one of which was how she realized she was being set up with the dentist. All the contestants were sent to the dentist in small groups, but while Evans was there, she was pressured to get her gap closed after telling the physician that she only wanted a cleaning and whitening. Evans says she stood by her decision despite growing up hating her gap. After the elimination, Evans said she addressed Banks. “So, I go forward, and Tyra’s like, ‘Why didn’t you get your gap closed?’ I’m like, ‘Huh?’ She like, ‘I told you to get your gap closed.’ I’m like, ‘No, you didn’t'” Evans recalled. “… In that moment, I knew what was happening. I knew that I was basically set up.”
Choosing her career over going home, Evans decided to partially close her gap. “What you think I’ mma choose, fam?” she said. “So Tyra says to me, ‘If I send you back to the dentist, will get your gap closed?’ And I meet her with another question: ‘So, what you’re saying is, if I tell you no, you’re gonna send me home tonight?'” She said what bothered her most was being a pawn for reality television ratings. “What I was tight about is them trying to play me and making good for TV. However, the me now, and reading the comments and understanding the weight that it created in other girls who saw that—this is why this post is being made, because I want to address all of those young girls … So I’ mma take this time to build up and to speak to all of my young queens that saw that episode that were truly affected by Tyra’s words … You’re beautiful.”
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