Though it’s been nearly three years since famed host Bob Barker from “The Price Is Right” died, new details about how he treated some of his colleagues are starting to come to the surface. Specifically, two former Black models are speaking out and sharing disheartening details about their experiences in E!’s new series, “Dirty, Rotten, Scandal.”
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In this latest episode, Kathleen Bradley, who became the first full-time Black model in the show’s history in 1990, pulled back the curtain on some of the mistreatment she experienced while working on the popular game show. In particular, she alleged that fans said negative things about her and that members of the production team used the N-word when she wasn’t around.
“As time went on, at some point it got back to me that some of the fans were writing negative things about me being on the show, as a Black model,” Bradley claimed. “[It was] just not a good feeling… And one of the members of the production team brought to my attention that, inside a production meeting, when models weren’t in there, they would use the N-word.”
Bradley also shared that while her experience initially got off to a good start, she slowly but surely started noticing gawking from male members of the crew and other toxic work environment happenings. Eventually, she was sadly subjected to sexual harassment by a “handsy” stagehand.
Former “Real Housewives of Atlanta” star Claudia Jordan, who became the second, full-time Black model on the show 10 years after Bradley, alleged that the racist attitudes unfortunately hadn’t lessened by the time she arrived. During her time, she claimed she was subjected to racist comments and sexual harassment by one of the show’s producers.
“‘Let’s make a reverse Oreo, Claudia, you get in the middle of the two white models,’” Jordan alleged producer Phil Wayne said to her years ago. “Or [he’d] tell me I’m the ‘ass model’ because stereotypically, Black women have a larger behind. And I guess that’s why he wanted to grab and feel it.”
Jordan later went on to say that the racist attitudes and undertones also spilled their way into how Black contestants were picked and treated.
“They would go through potential audience members in the line looking for contestants. It was stereotypes that were definitely pushed on the show, negative stereotypes of Black people like the overweight Black woman, or the extra loud, ridiculous person,” she alleged.
Jordan went on to say that host Bob Barker had a say in how many Black contestants were allowed to come on down.
She continued: “Then I started to hear that they were only allowed to have two Black contestants on the show at a time, and that was a direct order from Bob Barker. And to let Barker know the race of the contestant that was about to come on down, they would have a letter B written on the card. It was pretty sad. A Black contestant may try to hug Bob Barker and he’d kind of shrink away from them.”
What’s more is that a fellow former model, a white woman named Holly Hallstrom, alleged even more instances of racism from Barker. She detailed how the host ended up having an affair with co-star, Dian Parkinson who, unbeknownst to then-married Barker, had dated a few Black celebrities before getting involved with him. Parkinson was also involved with Barker while he was dating another woman named Nancy Burnett.
“[Burnett] said, ‘Oh my gosh, Bob has no idea that he’s had sex with a woman who has had sex with Black men. Bob has always said that Black men are the most diseased people on Earth,” Hallstrom said in the documentary.
While Barker is obviously no longer around to defend himself against these allegations, his longtime representative, Roger Neal, pushed back on the claims in a statement to USA Today.
“Barker was and is beloved, and people to this day love him. He was part of the fabric of American pop culture. He was the greatest MC in TV history. I was honored to have represented him,” Neal said.
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