ENTERTAINMENTTyra Banks Defends Her 'Weirdness' After Going Viral for Strange Santa Claus Conspiracy: 'I'm Crazy Like a Fox!'
On 'TODAY With Jenna & Friends,' Tyra Banks defended her odd behavior as 'Santa Smize.'
Dec. 16 2025, Published 1:58 p.m. ET
Tyra Banks is unashamed of her "weirdness."
During the Tuesday, December 16, episode of TODAY With Jenna & Friends, the supermodel, 52, defended her "Santa Smize" persona.
Banks dressed up in a yellow wig as Mrs. Claus while debuting her SMiZE & DREAM ice cream in early December.
Tyra Banks guest-starred on 'TODAY With Jenna & Friends.'
She DJ’d at a local pub in Sydney, Australia, in full character, a moment that was met with much controversy by fans, who found her actions to be strange.
“Confusion is conversion. I always tell people that different is better than better. It’s OK to put yourself out there and be weird," she expressed on Today. "One of my mentors, he’s no longer with us, but he was the CEO of Zappos. His name was Tony Hsieh. He was all about weirdness. I’ve been about weirdness forever. I’m a comedian, but because I have a modeling background, people are like, ‘She crazy.’ I’m crazy like a fox.”
Banks encouraged fans to continue calling her “crazy,” because their comments translate to ice cream sales.
Tyra Banks Gives Strange Speech About Santa
Tyra Banks calls her alter ego 'Santa Smize.'
During her pub appearance, the Victoria’s Secret Angel puzzled the audience when she went on a strange rant about Santa.
"Child, he ain't biting that cookie. He ain't sipping that cream. He taking a bowl from your cabinet ... and he putting a little bit of cookie, and he putting a little bit of that milk, and he mixing it up,” she declared. “And then he put it in your freezer. And he trying to make it taste like Santa SMiZE, and it tastes like Santa s---!"
In another clip, she said, “I think I’m going crazy!”
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Tyra Banks previously said she has never done drugs.
Social media users speculated that the star may have been on drugs during her live show.
“Is she OK?” one person inquired, while another claimed, “She’s so high.”
“I know good coke when I see it,” a third user alleged.
Others agreed that she may have been under the influence, writing, “Someone gave her a good batch.”
Tyra Banks Speaks on Substance Use
Tyra Banks led fans to believe she was on drugs.
Rumors aside, Banks previously confirmed she has never done drugs.
“I feel like I’ve been very lucky because I don’t really have an addictive personality,” she once wrote in an email to fans. “I’ve never had any drugs, and I had a little taste of alcohol when I was 12 years old, but that’s about it.”
Tyra Banks dressed up in a yellow wig and Santa hat.
The model also revealed in the past that she didn’t drink alcohol until celebrating her 50th birthday with family in Australia.
“My mom and my best friend surprised me there, and it was so magical,” she recalled in a May 2024 interview with a news outlet. “We took a seaplane, had a meal in the middle of nowhere. I even had an alcoholic drink for the first time! It wasn’t worth it. I was like, ‘This is nasty!’”
