Tyra Banks is taking on Netflix in court – and the allegations are serious.
The former America’s Next Top Model host has filed a lawsuit against Netflix and the producers of the streamer’s latest Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model docu-series alleging that her interview was edited to create a false and damaging narrative.
According to the lawsuitBanks believes viewers were left with a very different impression than what she actually said.
Allegations of manipulation
According to court documents obtained by Variety, Banks is suing Netflix, 89 blocks Stocks, EverWonder Studio, Netflix musicand the documentary’s co-directors, Mother Loushy and Daniel Sivan.
The lawsuit includes claims of defamation, false representation, breach of contract and false representation.
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Banks’ lawyers claim she sat for a three-and-a-half-hour interview for the project, but only about 16 minutes eventually appeared in the final set of documents.
According to the filing, the edited footage was then “reassembled to support a false and defamatory narrative unrelated to what she actually expressed.”
The suit also alleges that parts of the interview in which Banks took responsibility for some of the show’s shortcomings were left out entirely.
The claim at the center of the lawsuit
One of the lawsuit’s biggest complaints involves the former America’s Next Top Model contestant Shandy Sullivan.
According to the archive, the documentary includes a discussion of a controversial incident involving Sullivan during the show’s second cycle.
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Banks claims producers withheld key context during her interview before asking if she remembered Sullivan’s story.
The lawsuit argues that the series then edited her responses in a way that suggested she either didn’t remember or didn’t care about what happened.
“The consequence is devastating and intentional,” the lawsuit states. Banks’ lawyers claim that unedited footage shows that she actually replied, “I remember her story.”
Seeking compensation
Banker host America’s Next Top Model for 22 cycles beginning in 2003 and remained one of the most recognizable faces in reality television throughout the show’s run.
Now she is asking for a jury trial and asking for damages.
Netflix has not publicly responded to the lawsuit. If the case moves forward, it could focus on how documentary interviews are edited – and whether these edits can cross the line into defamation.
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Gallery Credit: Jacklyn Krol
