Tyra Banks praises Gabrielle Union in midst of 'America's Got Talent' fallout: 'She was very vulnerable'

Megan Sims

Tyra Banks, in an interview with Yahoo Entertainment, shared her thoughts on the America’s Got Talent controversy that seems to be getting more heated by the day.

The series has been under scrutiny since not asking Gabrielle Union to return to the show back in November. Union took to Twitter claiming she was let go because she called out the show’s “toxic culture,” where she experienced racism and sexism. AGT has denied the claims.

Things have become even more tense recently after current host Terry Crews praised the NBC reality show in an interview on Friday saying, “I have never been in a more diverse place in 20 years of entertainment.” Crews went on to call his time on the AGT “the best experience I ever had in my entire life.”

Union has seemingly responded to Crews’s comments via Twitter.

Banks, who only hosted the show for two seasons, said that her time there was so short that she was not in a place to describe what the culture was like behind the scenes. “I almost kind of like dipped my toe in and left, so I'm not really immersed in the culture,” Banks says. “Like people ask me about Victoria's Secret, I can wax poetic about that — I was there for 10 years.”

The America’s Next Top Model host did say that she was proud of Union for speaking her truth, especially in an industry that encourages people to hide their vulnerability. “What I love about what she did is she was very vulnerable. I wasn't super close to it, but I saw some of her tweets,” Banks shares. “I thought it was maybe beautiful... how she wasn't speaking in anger, she’s speaking in pain like ‘I'm trying to get through this... and I'm crying.’”

Banks also praised Union’s husband, Dwyane Wade, for supporting her during this difficult situation.

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