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Tyra Banks has filed a defamation lawsuit against Netflix and the directors of its docuseries Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model, alleging that the producers stripped down hours of interview footage to construct a false narrative.
In the lawsuit filed on Saturday in Los Angeles federal court, the model who created and hosted reality series America’s Next Top Model said she had been interviewed for three and a half hours, during which she took responsibility for some of the show’s controversial decisions. Those interviews were edited down to 16 minutes and manipulated “to support a false and defamatory narrative unrelated to what she actually expressed”, the lawsuit claims.
“The accountability Ms. Banks took ended up on the cutting room floor,” her lawyers wrote. “It was there, but viewers were never given the opportunity to see it.”
Banks is seeking damages in her lawsuit against Netflix, the directors Daniel Sivan and Mor Loushy and EverWonder Studio. She’s also seeking an injunction barring the use of her image in connection with the docuseries’ soundtrack, released as an album.
Emails seeking comments were sent to the defendants’ representatives on Sunday.
America’s Next Top Model launched in 2003 and ran for 24 seasons. The reality competition series has since undergone a critical re-evaluation over accusations of body shaming, manipulation of contestants and problematic photoshoots. Banks has previously addressed those criticisms, acknowledging “the insensitivity of past ANTM moments” and “some really off choices”.
The lawsuit contends that the producers of the Netflix docuseries used “selective editing, deliberate omission, and surgical manipulation of continuous footage” to formulate a narrative that Banks allowed a contestant to be sexually assaulted on the show, used the contestant’s trauma to drum up ratings, and then couldn’t remember it when asked during the interviews.
“Defendants edited the Netflix Series to make it appear that Ms. Banks knew she was being asked about a sexual assault and was intentionally trying to evade the topic,” the lawsuit stated, contending that Banks hadn’t been told – or asked – about the assault during the interview.
Banks’ lawyers wrote that she hadn’t been permitted to review the docuseries until a day before its release on 16 February. According to the lawsuit, she had not been contacted for fact-checking after her interviews, and was not given an opportunity to respond to accusations from other participants.
The lawyers reached out to Netflix in March to request access to the full footage of their client’s interviews. Netflix and EverWonder denied that request, according to the lawsuit. Since the docuseries’ release, public reaction has been “swift, harsh, and directed squarely at Ms. Banks” — even SMiZE + DREAM, her ice cream shop in Sydney, Australia, has been subject to review bombing on Google, the lawsuit read.
The Associated Press sent an email seeking further detail from Banks’ lawyers and representatives on Sunday.
“Every other conversation about ANTM’s legacy — including the candid reflection Ms. Banks came prepared to have – is now drowned out by an accusation she was never given the chance to answer,” her lawyers wrote. “This lawsuit is that answer – particularly after her efforts to resolve the matter directly with Netflix and the producers were refused.”
