‘Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model’ became a topic of heavy discussion earlier this year regarding Banks’ relationship with the Jays, how she handled an alleged sexual assault on set and more.
Tyra Banks is going on the offensive.
The famed model and former television host has filed a lawsuit against Netflix over her portrayal in “Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model,” a docuseries chronicling the rise and fall of the TV show, which she hosted and executive-produced.
According to the suit, which was obtained by PEOPLE, Banks is suing for defamation, claiming her appearance in the documentary was edited to “support a false narrative.” Banks reportedly sat down with the documentary’s creators for over three hours, and while no question was off-limits, only 16 minutes of her interview were ultimately used in the series.
“Tyra Banks participated in the Netflix documentary series America’s Next Top Model (‘ANTM’) because she believed viewers deserved a candid conversation about the show’s legacy—its successes and its shortcomings,” the lawsuit begins. “There are aspects of the show for which Ms. Banks takes accountability and she wanted ANTM viewers to hear that from her directly.”
The lawsuit continues: “Going into her interview, Ms. Banks did not limit the ANTM topics the interviewer could ask. During a three-and-a-half-hour interview, Ms. Banks answered questions about the show’s groundbreaking history, including criticism of decisions she would approach differently today.
“The Netflix series Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model (the ‘Netflix Series’) was sold to viewers as a ‘documentary series,’ “the lawsuit says. “Netflix called it ‘the definitive, must-watch chronicle of America’s Next Top Model.’ The genre matters. Viewers of a documentary do not expect manufactured drama or constructed narratives. They expect facts. Because they were promised a documentary, that is exactly how viewers interacted with the Netflix Series.”
Banks also suggests that moments where she took accountability for her actions and the controversial moments that were aired during the original “America’s Next Top Model” were edited out of the final cut of the docuseries.
“Worse, the false narrative the producers constructed—through selective editing, deliberate omission, and surgical manipulation of continuous footage—included that Ms. Banks knowingly allowed a contestant to be sexually assaulted on her show, exploited that contestant’s trauma for ratings, and then could not even remember it when asked. That narrative about Ms. Banks is a complete fabrication—one that Netflix streamed to a global audience of millions.”
In an interview with The Wrap earlier this year, ‘Reality Check’ director Mor Loushy said the docuseries would have happened with or without participation from Banks.
“This documentary was happening, regardless if she was giving an interview or not, and she decided she did want to share her side of the story,” Loushy said. “I’m very happy that she did, because it gave the opportunity to really go deep into the debates, into the start of the idea, and not by a third person but from Tyra herself, to really hear the journey that she’s been through.”
One of the more controversial moments of the docuseries occurs when contestant Shandi Sullivan had to relive her alleged sexual assault during the show’s second cycle. She accused the show’s production team of framing the incident as a cheating scandal rather than a sexual assault that occurred on set.
In the lawsuit, Banks says she was unaware Sullivan had classified her encounter in Italy with a man who visited their house as sexual assault.
“The implication is devastating and deliberate: that Tyra Banks cannot even remember the story of the woman who was assaulted on her show,” the lawsuit says. “But that was false. The full footage of Ms. Banks’ interview reveals two things that the producers cut out and did not show viewers in Episode 1: before the upward glance, Ms. Banks nods—affirmatively, unmistakably—and immediately says, ‘I do remember her story.’ By carving the nod out of the middle of the sequence and cutting off Ms. Banks’ comment at the end, the producers ensured that viewers would see only the lie and not the truth.”
Banks is seeking “damages, including loss of future business opportunities, loss of business income, other compounding losses as will be shown at trial.”
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