Nailed It! host Nicole Byer Was Angry At Netflix For White Washing The Show

Since Netflix is one of the most powerful streaming services, it has released many films with movie stars and shows featuring A-listers. Despite that, many Netflix users prefer to watch reality shows that will put them in a better mood, like Nailed It!, which puts smiles on viewers' faces by being silly.

Since Nailed It! has many fans, behind-the-scene facts like what makes the bakers so horrible have surfaced. However, there are many facts about Nailed It! that most fans don't know. For example, many fans don't know that Nicole Byer once called out Netflix because she felt the show was being whitewashed.

Nicole Byer Was Angry At Netflix For Whitewashing Nailed It!

Now that streaming services are a huge business, there are certain parts of their apps that have proven to be very important. For example, if any part of a streaming service's app is hard to navigate, it can become so annoying over time that they lose some subscribers.

Another aspect of streaming service apps that needs to be perfected is the thumbnails that users can see when they navigate the apps. After all, if all the thumbnails are boring, there is a lot better chance that customers will feel like there is nothing to watch.

Similarly, a show's thumbnail can help decide whether a streaming service's show or movie is successful. With that in mind, it makes a lot of sense that Nailed It!'s host Nicole Byer was once openly angry with her bosses at Netflix over the thumbnail.

In May 2019, E! News published an article that revealed why Nicole Byer was annoyed with Netflix. That article revealed that the issue that Nicole had with her bosses was the thumbnail that was being used to promote Nailed It! at that time.

The first season of Nailed It! premiered on Netflix on March 9, 2018. That means that at the time of the scandal involving Netflix's thumbnails, Nailed It! was still a relatively new show and Nicole Byer hadn't been working for Netflix for long.

At the time of E! News' article, a user on X/Twitter had recently posted on the social media website about the thumbnail that was being used for Nailed It! at the time. In the user's post that tagged Nicole, they pointed out that Nailed It!'s thumbnail only featured Jacques Torres and Weston Bahr.

"i remember reading somewhere that @netflix puts men on the thumbnails of shows and movies a lot, but yo - this is NUTS. @nicolebyer IS NAILED IT. I love wes and chef jacques but COME ON - this is so upsetting."

It didn't take long for the user's post to get a lot of attention.

For anyone who doesn't know, Jacques is Nailed It!'s head judge, but he essentially serves as Nicole's sidekick. As for Weston, he is the show's assistant director who makes regular appearances on Nailed It!, but he certainly isn't the star of the series.

As of September 2024, Netflix has produced seven full Nailed It! seasons. Netflix has also produced three special episodes of the reality baking competition show which proves how popular the show is with viewers.

As the post from the show's fan pointed out, everyone knows that Nicole is Nailed It!'s main star, including her.

After the fan drew attention to how Netflix was promoting Nailed It!, Nicole realized what was happening. As E! News' article pointed out, Nicole then called out Netflix, without actually calling them out, in a since-deleted tweet.

"If Netflix didn't sign my checks and give me a huge platform and opportunity to showcase my comedy, I would talk about how f--ked up and disrespectful this is to me a black woman. Also how black women are a lot of times erased from many different conversations."

After posting that tweet, Nicole was far from done.

Nicole continued to outline how she would react to how Netflix was promoting Nailed It! if the service didn't employ her.

"I would talk about how it makes me know my true value as the host of the show where I work incredibly hard to elevate the material given to me. A lot of moments people love are improvised... I would talk about how this essentially white washing for more views. But they sign my checks and I'm honestly so happy and greatful [sic] to and for the show and no sarcasm I love my job and wish to keep it so I'll be quiet."

Nicole then finished her response to the thumbnail that Netflix was using at the time. "To be clear. I know there are thumbnails with and without my face... This one just seems for lack of a better word deliberate. Again I love my job." Similar to her first post on the subject, Nicole went on to delete the follow-up tweets as well.

Due to the popularity of reality shows, it can sometimes feel like there are endless options. For example, there are a lot of fantastic reality baking competition shows for fans of the genre to watch.

Since there are so many reality baking shows, viewers need to know what makes them different. In the case of Nailed It!, there are two things that make the show stand out the most: Nicole Byer and the show's horrible baking creations. Given what makes Nailed It! a show worth watching, it seems very obvious that the show's thumbnail should include Nicole. The thumbnail could also include something created by one of Nailed It's failed bakers alongside Nicole.

Nicole Byer Later Expressed How Happy She Was With How Netflix Reacted To The Nailed It! Thumbnail Scandal

The day after E! News published their article about Nicole Byer calling out Netflix, The Hollywood Reporter revealed what happened next. The Hollywood Reporter's follow-up article thankfully revealed that Netflix took quick action after the scandal arose.

According to The Hollywood Reporter's article, Netflix took down the Nailed It! thumbnail that upset many observers.

Most importantly, The Hollywood Reporter's article revealed that it seemed like the scandal had a happy ending. The outlet quoted a follow-up tweet that Nicole published about how Netflix was going to be more careful about the thumbnails they will make for Nailed It! in the future.

“I deleted my last set of tweets [because] I talked to one of the execs on my show and the thrilling conclusion is the removal of the image and a conversation about how the thumbnails are made and selected that I’m happy with.”

Nicole and Netflix have continued to work together ever since.