Erstwhile America’s Next Top Model host Tyra Banks has filed a defamation suit against Netflix, alleging that footage of her appearing on the streamer’s exposé docuseries about the cutthroat and controversial late aughts reality competition series was edited to construct a “false narrative” about her.
In a lawsuit filed in federal court in California today, the supermodel is suing Netflix, 89 Blocks Holdings, EverWonder Studio, Netflix Music and co-directors Mor Loushy and Daniel Sivan for false light, defamation by implication, breach of contract and false endorsement.
In the court documents, Banks claims she gave the three-part Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model an interview totaling three-and-a-half hours, only to have it whittled down to 16 minutes and “stripped of context and reassembled to support a false and defamatory narrative unrelated to what she actually expressed.” The suit states Banks took “accountability” for the show’s toxic on-set environment but those moments “ended up on the cutting room floor.”
“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,” the suit reads. “That narrative about Ms. Banks is a complete fabrication—one that Netflix streamed to a global audience of millions.”
Netflix declined to comment on Banks’ suit when contacted by Deadline.
Tyra Banks in ‘Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model’
Netflix
The documentary series, which premiered Feb. 16, also featured sit-down interviews with producer Ken Mok and leading judges Jay Manuel, J. Alexander (aka Miss J) and Nigel Barker, as well as former contestants and winners — like Whitney Thompson, Giselle Samson, Shannon Stewart, Shandi Sullivan, Dani Evans, and Keenyah Hill. It debuted to No. 1 on the streamer’s Top 10 English TV List with 14.2M views in its first week, becoming a run(a)way success and generating headlines and online discourse.
In particular, the lawsuit highlights one “egregious example” of manipulated footage, regarding Sullivan’s experience of sexual assault as a contestant on ANTM‘s second cycle.
“One of the areas of interest about ANTM over the last twenty years has been about an evening during which Ms. Sullivan was intoxicated, had intercourse with a man in Milan, and quickly confessed her infidelity to her longtime boyfriend,” the lawsuit explains. “On the Netflix Series, Ms. Sullivan is shown describing the event as an assault—something Ms. Banks had never heard before and was not told during her interview [emphasis in document]. Having withheld that information, Ms. Loushy asks Ms. Banks: ‘You remember the story with Shandi?’ The episode shows Ms. Banks glance upward, say ‘um,’ and then the screen cuts to black. The implication is devastating and deliberate: that Tyra Banks cannot even remember the story of the woman who was assaulted on her show.”
“But that was false,” the suit continues. “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.”
As a result of alleged “loss of future business opportunities, loss of business income, other compounding losses,” “severe reputational harm” and “significant mental anguish,” Banks is requesting a jury trial to decide “appropriate” compensation for general and special damages.
At its height, ANTM — which first premiered on the now-defunct UPN, before shifting to its successor The CW and even later VH1 — would draw 100 million global viewers at its peak. It spanned 24 seasons, or cycles, totaling over 300 episodes from 2003 through 2016 (including one revival installment in 2018).
Banks has previously reflected on the show’s shortcomings and its legacy, saying last year at Essence‘s 18th annual Black Women in Hollywood Awards: “Did we get it right? Hell no. I said some dumb shit. But I refuse to have my legacy be about some stuff linked together on the internet when there were 24 cycles of changing the world. And I am so excited that I, and so many of us, have opened that door for others to follow.”
Following a new wave of backlash upon the docuseries’ premiere exploring ANTM‘s issues — the body shaming, problematic beauty standards and racially insensitive shoots, among other occurrences — Banks has also seen a rally of support from former contestants like Adrianne Curry, Isis King and Jaslene Gonzalez.
Dominic Patten contributed to this report.
