Viral Clip Fuels Renewed Racism Allegations Around Price is Right Host Bob Barker

For decades, The Price Is Right was America’s favorite sick-day companion: smiling contestants, bright lights and, at its center, Bob Barker, the avuncular host who closed every episode urging viewers to “help control the pet population.” Off-camera, former models now say, the reality was far less wholesome.

A new installment of the E! docuseries Dirty Rotten Scandals revisits long-standing allegations of racism, discrimination and retaliation during Barker’s 35-year tenure, consolidating claims that once surfaced in lawsuits and tabloid headlines into a more unified narrative.

Kathleen Bradley, the show’s first full-time Black model, recalls what she describes as a hostile environment both on set and beyond it. “Some of the fans were writing negative things about me being on the show,” she says in the series, adding that inside production meetings, staff allegedly used racial slurs when models were not present.

Claudia Jordan, who joined a decade later, alleges the culture persisted. In the documentary and circulating clips, she claims contestant selection was racially coded: Only a limited number of Black contestants were allowed per taping, marked behind the scenes. “That was a direct order from Bob Barker,” she says in the footage.

Jordan also describes stereotyping on set, recalling producers reducing her to racial tropes, while adding that Black contestants who approached Barker would sometimes be met with visible discomfort.

Other former “Barker’s Beauties” go further. Holly Hallstrom, who worked on the show for nearly two decades, alleges retaliation after she refused to support Barker in a sexual harassment case involving fellow model Dian Parkinson. She describes Barker as “cruel and viciously vindictive,” claiming he sought to “destroy” employees who did not comply.

The docuseries also revisits earlier claims tying Barker to racially charged remarks. Hallstrom recounts a moment in which Barker allegedly expressed fear of interracial relationships, saying he believed Black men were “the most diseased people on Earth,” a statement cited in the program as emblematic of a broader culture.

The renewed attention has also been fueled by a viral clip from the show, in which Barker appears to pull away and move offstage as a Black contestant approaches him for a hug. The moment has spread widely online as supposed evidence of bias. On its own, however, the clip does not establish intent or context. (A running joke on the show was that Samoan women loved to pick him up, and so he’d dodge them onstage.)

Barker, who died in 2023 at 99, consistently denied wrongdoing during his lifetime. His longtime representative has again pushed back in response to the series, defending him as a beloved television figure and rejecting the allegations while emphasizing his reputation and legacy.

Barker was synonymous with animal rights advocacy. His daily signoff about spaying and neutering pets became a cultural fixture, and his activism helped elevate issues like animal overpopulation into the mainstream. He became a sainted figure to PETA, who named buildings after him and petitioned to have entire L.A. streets rechristened in his honor.

The Price Is Right continues today with Drew Carey as host, produced by Fremantle and airing on CBS, its home since 1972. Fremantle did not immediately respond to a request for comment.