Don’t be the face they blame

I try my best not to get caught up in celebrity drama. I don’t wake up looking for scandal, but occasionally, something happens that is bigger than gossip. Something that exposes how power really works.

The public reckoning around Tyra Banks and the legacy of America’s Next Top Model is one of those moments. I have not watched the documentaries. I can’t. When those episodes originally aired, they were already triggering for me as a plus-size Black woman trying to find herself in a world that policed our bodies for sport. I don’t need to relive that through a new lens.

I have watched the online discourse. I’ve watched Tyra be vilified as if she had built the machine alone. Let us be clear: she is not innocent, but she was also the face of a show run by White-owned corporations. The brand was bigger than her. The funding was bigger than her. The executives were bigger than her.

Yet, when the dust settles, who is trending? Who is absorbing the bulk of the outrage? The Black woman. That part does not surprise me. What does surprise me is how quickly we forget how systems operate. We act like harm exists in a vacuum. Like power is evenly distributed. Like everyone in the room had the same leverage. They didn’t, and this is where the lesson hits home for me.

You see, everything happening to Tyra right now is exactly why I refuse to stay quiet when things do not add up or go against my values. I question everything, and because of that, I’ve been labelled the shit disturber more times than I can count. I would rather be called difficult than be used as a scapegoat.

Here is the truth: if you are part of something and you see things that are not right, and you comply anyway just to keep your seat at the table, you are gambling with your integrity, and when things blow up? You will be the easiest one to sacrifice. I know this because I’ve lived it. Over two decades ago, I was part of a national sales team. My numbers were strong, but not everybody’s were. When our results were reported upward as a group, they didn’t make sense. I could see it. The math was mathing, just not honestly.

I asked questions. I documented everything. I challenged narratives that didn’t sit right. When the scandal finally cracked open, it would have been so easy to pin it on me, the only Black woman on the team. The loud one. The one who asked too many questions.

What saved me was this: I never blindly complied. I never signed off on what I knew was wrong. The manager above my direct supervisor eventually realized who had been fudging the numbers so the rest of the department could ride off my success, and the accountability went where it belonged.

That manager and I are still in contact today. In fact, I’m reserving a ticket for her at my graduation. We have not worked together in over twenty years, but she was watching from behind the scenes. She saw my integrity. She respected it. Integrity has a long memory.

Here is what I want our community to understand: leadership is not about proximity to power. It is about courage in the presence of it. Do not be a yes-man. Do not be a follower. Do not stay silent just to be liked. If you see something that is off, say something, because when the system decides it needs a fall guy, the person who complied without question is often the easiest to frame.

How will you feel knowing you knew better? This is not about saving Tyra Banks. It is about saving ourselves from the same trap. We live in a world where visibility can be weaponized, where the Black face at the front of the room can be both profitable and disposable.

So, ask yourself: are you building something you believe in, or are you attaching your name to something that contradicts your values because it looks good on paper?

The headlines around America’s Next Top Model are happening in Hollywood, but the lesson is universal. Speak up early. Document everything. Protect your integrity. Lead with your spine, not your ego, because at the end of the day, fame fades, corporations pivot, and public opinion shifts, but your name?

That is the one thing you carry for life.