*The NY Post caught up with Tyson Beckford backstage at the Ralph Lauren Children’s Fashion Show awhile back at the Central Park Zoo, and the former model dished on his feelings about the sudden wave of delusional Instagram models, many of whom refuse to acknowledge him with the proper respect.
He also said he wishes he could “put a gun to the head of the person” who started the nasty rumor that he doesn’t date Black women.
“I do not feel like I get the respect that I deserve,” Tyson says. “There are a lot of Instagram models out there, and when they reach out to me and ask me for advice, they get mad, go on blogs and say things like I am irrelevant.”
45-year-old Tyson also bashed the current industry practice of finding new talent on social media. A practice he believes is setting up hopeful models for failure.
“I do not think Instagram models are a good thing. You are setting people up for failure if they don’t have the complete package,” he says. “Nowadays, everyone is calling themselves a model, but don’t be mad at me if I am telling you the truth.
“In the model world, you have to be 5-foot-9 for girls and 6-foot-1 for guys. It is not just about having a pretty face — you need the height to go with it.”
Beckford has been shrouded by the longstanding rumor that he doesn’t find Black women appealing, and the fact that he didn’t reproduce with a Black woman certainly enhanced this rumor.
“People were going around saying that I do not like black women, when that is absolutely not true. I wish I could put a gun to the head of the person who started that nasty rumor about me and black women,” says Beckford, who has a son with celebrity stylist April Roomet. “I love black women and do date them. My exes from Jamaica were calling me saying, ‘Why don’t you date or like black women?’ That rumor has followed me to this day, and black women have always been upset with me for that. I love brown skin. It is nice to look at and to touch.”
