Netflix is reportedly pushing back against Tyra Banks’ defamation lawsuit, asking the court to throw out claims tied to her portrayal in its America’s Next Top Model documentary.
Banks, the 52-year-old supermodel and longtime face of the franchise, appeared in the streamer’s docuseries Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model, which premiered in February and reignited public debate over the hit reality competition’s legacy.
According to documents reviewed by Our News Outlet, Netflix filed paperwork on Friday requesting that a judge dismiss the defamation allegations brought by Banks.
In a lawsuit filed in June, Banks claimed producers used only 16 minutes from an interview that lasted more than three hours, arguing the footage was edited to create what she described as a “false and defamatory narrative,” according to court documents obtained by TMZ.
A Netflix representative has since told Our News Outlet that filmmakers Daniel Sivan and Mor Loushy “are respected documentarians who thoroughly interviewed the people behind America’s Next Top Model.”
The spokesperson added: “Tyra Banks was given the opportunity to speak openly about her experience and the creators fairly presented her perspective alongside those of every other participant shown in this documentary. We stand behind Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model and will continue to vigorously defend it.”
Netflix is reportedly seeking to dismiss Tyra Banks’ defamation lawsuit over her depiction in its America’s Next Top Model documentary; Banks is pictured in February
The streaming giant filed court documents on Friday asking a judge to toss Banks’ defamation claims
The Daily Mail has contacted representatives for Banks for comment but has not yet heard back.
Sources close to Netflix told Our News Outlet that the creative team behind the series had been clear from the start that while Banks was involved in the project – as it was important to have her perspective included – she had no editorial control over it.
Her legal complaint only came months after the show began streaming, sources close to Netflix said, adding that the company’s latest legal motion shows it ‘to be baseless in every respect.’
Banks’ complaint argues that the series used ‘selective editing, deliberate omission, and surgical manipulation’ of footage to create a false and misleading impression, including ‘that Ms. Banks knowingly allowed a contestant to be sexually assaulted on her show.’
It also alleges the series suggested Banks exploited the contestant’s trauma for ratings, and later failed to recall the incident when questioned.
A central focus of the docuseries is Cycle 2 contestant Shandi Sullivan’s allegation that she was not properly protected after a sexual assault involving a guest during filming. The incident, she claims, was later reframed on the show as an infidelity storyline, but Banks disputes that portrayal.
In the lawsuit, she states she was not aware Sullivan would be participating in the documentary and insists she has acknowledged the incident as a sexual assault, with the filing calling the implication that she ‘cannot even remember’ the case ‘devastating and deliberate.’
Banks is requesting a jury trial to determine the ‘appropriate’ amount she should be awarded in damages.
The 52-year-old supermodel participated in the streamer’s docuseries Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model, released in February, which sparked renewed criticism of the reality series
In June, Banks alleged that producers relied on 16 minutes of footage from a more than three-hour interview and edited it in a way she claimed created a ‘false and defamatory narrative,’ according to documents obtained by TMZ
Banks hosted America’s Next Top Model for its first 22 cycles after pitching the series to UPN, with the show debuting in 2003
She hosted America’s Next Top Model for its first 22 cycles after pitching the series to UPN, with the show debuting in 2003.
‘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.
‘Going into her interview, Ms. Banks did not limit the ANTM topics the interviewer could ask,’ the filing continues.
Over the course of a three-and-a-half-hour interview, she answered questions about the show’s impact and its groundbreaking history, including criticism of decisions she made.
‘The Netflix series Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model (the ‘Netflix Series’) was sold to viewers as a “documentary series,”‘ the lawsuit states. ‘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 alleges that clips were ‘stripped of context and reassembled to support a false and defamatory narrative unrelated to what she actually expressed.’
She further claims that moments in which she accepted responsibility for some of the show’s most controversial incidents were omitted from the final cut.
