Bizarre Tyra Banks Video Accused of Being 'Staged'

Supermodel and TV star Tyra Banks distracted NBA fans this week in a social media video blasted for being "staged" and labeled a "stunt" as the star sat courtside with some furry friends.

America's Next Top Model host Banks attended the Brooklyn Nets/New York Knicks game on Tuesday at the Barclays Center and was caught on camera with two furries, with the interaction shown on the jumbotron.

A video of Banks' interaction has gone viral with her appearing to be frightened by two furries, who sandwiched her on either side. Many onlookers alleged it was staged to help make headlines.

A video shared by @SNYNets on X, formerly Twitter, which at the time of this article's publication, had been viewed over 740,000 times with hundreds of comments and over a thousand reshares was captioned: "Tyra Banks is at Barclays Center tonight with a couple of furries."

@PopCrave also reshared the video, with it clocking up over 994,000 views. Both clips have been hit by remarks from observers claiming it was an odd and an orchestrated encounter.

Furries, as defined by the website FurScience, are "a diverse community of fans, artists, writers, gamers, and role players. Most furries create for themselves an anthropomorphized animal character (fursona) with whom they identify and can function as an avatar within the community."

One spectator who saw the video was quick to brand the viral clip as a hoax: "She definitely planned this + paid for this post to be relevant again."

Another added: "I'm pretty sure that this was a stunt, but can't say for certain. I'm 80% sure the suits were bought on the cheap and given to actors to perform next to Tyra Banks for publicity and so broadcasters didn't have to credit any creators or suiters."

The sentiment was shared by many, with a third contributing: "This feels so staged. Post has been up for hours & the furry community hasn't dropped the @ of the suiters or maker. Pink suiter hasn't tucked their arms into their paws or sorted their neck out despite knowing they're about to appear on TV. My guess is it's actors in the suits." With the maker of the remark believing that if it was a genuine member of the Furry community they would have owned up to the opportunity.

A social media user said: "Definitely paid actual suiters to borrow their stuff given the pastel pink one is mismatched (proven) and also the suit doesn't fit the person wearing it. So very much staged but no harm done I suppose."

A puzzled member of the furry community said: "Have anyone determined WHY this PR stunt was done yet?? Like... why the nets? why Tyra Banks? is she promoting a new show? will there be furries on it? or is the NBA trying to court furries suspicious wealth? I JUST NEED TO KNOW WHY."

"This is so staged and I don't like it. It's like 'Hey look at these people theyre wearing suits and acting strange around our famous person who looks normal by comparison" just feels weird and performatively cringe, idk," a viewer dissected the video.

The online bashing continued: "Since when do rich people use actors in fursuits for publicity stunts? Please don't make us go mainstream, I don't want to see corporatised Amazon basics fursuits."

Despite receiving some backlash, it appeared that multiple furries enjoyed the clip with comments such as "Shout out to those furries" and "Furries for the win" being shared.

"Shout out to all the furries worldwide we must continue taking over the world one step at a time," another posted.

Newsweek has reached out to Tyra Banks' publicist via email for comment.