Race Swap Card

Curse of: America’s Next Top Model

ANTM was one of the most racially diverse reality shows of its era. So why did so many of its episodes look so racist? This episode investigates how ANTM represented, performed, and exploited race. We hear from models who were put in Blackface for the infamous race-swapping photo shoots and talk about the racial dynamics at play during the “We Were Rooting for You” moment. We unpack the show’s racial stereotypes and contradictions, including the paradox of a Black woman at the helm of a show that stereotyped and harmed other Black women.

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