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Nearly four months after Netflix released an explosive documentary chronicling the legacy and controversies of “America’s Next Top Model,” the show’s creator, Tyra Banks, is suing the giant for false lighting, defamation, breach of contract and false endorsement.
According to the lawsuit filed on June 13 and obtained by Fox News Digital, Banks – who participated in “Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model” – accused Netflix and the producers of the documentary of deliberately editing her 3.5-hour interview down to 16 minutes to create a false impression that she deliberately hid what the former abuser said during the abuse in the film “Ex-Rebel.”
“Tyra Banks participated in the Netflix docuseries ‘America’s Next Top Model’ because she believes viewers deserve an honest conversation about the show’s legacy—its successes and failures,” the lawsuit said. “There are aspects of the show that Ms. Banks is accountable for and she wanted ‘ANTM’ viewers to hear that directly from her.”
“Going into her interview, Ms. Banks did not limit the topics of ‘ANTM’ to the interviewer,” the lawsuit continued. “During the three-and-a-half-hour interview, Ms. Banks answered questions about the show’s important history, including criticism of decisions she would make differently today.”
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Tyra Banks walks the red carpet at the 2024 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue and 60th Anniversary Celebration at the Hard Rock Hotel in New York City on May 16, 2024. (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit)
Banks says the Netflix series was marketed to her as a “documentary series” that would underwrite “ANTM,” but says the videos were “decontextualized and repackaged to support a false and defamatory narrative that doesn’t match what she revealed.”
“Worse still, the false narrative created by the producers—through selective editing, deliberate omissions, and the surgical manipulation of ongoing footage—includes that Ms. Banks knowingly allowed a contestant to be sexually assaulted on her show, abused that contestant’s trauma for ratings, and then couldn’t even remember,” it said. “That narrative about Ms. Banks is a complete vision—one that Netflix has broadcast to a global audience of millions.”
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The show highlights “an egregious example of producers’ manipulation to create a fake story,” involving former contestant Shandi Sullivan.
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“One of the areas of interest about ‘ANTM’ over the past two decades has been the night Ms. Sullivan got drunk, slept with a man in Milan, and quickly confessed her infidelity to her longtime boyfriend,” the suit reads. “In the Netflix series, Ms. Sullivan is shown describing the incident as an assault—something Ms. Banks had never heard before and was not told during her interview. After withholding that information, Ms. Loushy asks Ms. Banks: ‘Do you remember the story with Shandi?’ The clip shows Ms. Banks looking up, saying ‘um,’ and the screen fades to black. What’s being said is hurtful and intentional: that Tyra Banks can’t even remember the story of the woman who was assaulted on her show. “
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The bank’s lawyers said “the claims are false.”
“Mrs. Banks remembers Ms. Sullivan well. She stood out as a remarkable young woman and an aspiring talent model. Ms. Banks also remembers the encounter in Milan as a matter of remorse for infidelity. As far as she knew at the time, it was the way everyone involved understood it – not as sexual harassment. Before it was released, no one was involved in making the episode or deleting the episode or deleting the episode for the network or clarifying the network or producing the episode for the network. reviewers of standards and procedures of the network—told her that anyone considers it sexual harassment.”
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“Secondly, Mrs. Banks goes on to say: ‘I miss her story.’ That answer has been cut from the end. “
Banks, who is requesting a trial, is asking for a “reasonable” amount of punitive damages.
