The supermodel claimed the hit docuseries had created a ‘false narrative’ about her, and that only 16 minutes of the three hour interview she provided the filmmakers was ultimately used
I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice
Netflix has fired back at the supermodel Tyra Banks, who sued the streamer for defamation in June over her portrayal in a documentary series.
Banks’s lawsuit against Netflix and filmmakers Mor Loushy and Daniel Sivan claimed that the three-part doc Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model was edited to manufacture a false and defamatory portrayal of her role as host, judge and executive producer on the long-running reality show.
“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 lawsuit alleged.
Banks requested a jury trial to determine damages for “loss of future business opportunities, loss of business income [and] other compounding losses,” while alleging that the docuseries has led to reputational damage to her businesses, specifically her ice cream brand Smize & Dream.
Now Netflix has attempted to have the lawsuit tossed out, vigorously defending the programme and arguing in a 28-page motion that Banks’s claims have no merit.
“Banks understands editorial discretion,” the filing states. “She created, hosted, and executive produced 24 seasons of ANTM, making the same kinds of editorial decisions she now attacks – what footage to include, what to omit, and how to present competing narratives. The documentary simply turned that editorial lens back on ANTM and Banks. Her disagreement with the resulting portrayal does not make it defamatory.”
Banks’s suit specifically argued that Reality Check made it seem as if she had no memory of events on America’s Next Top Model involving the aspiring model Shandi Sullivan, who alleged in Reality Check that she had been assaulted during filming of the show’s second season.
Netflix, however, have argued that the very end of Reality Check’s first episode depicts Banks saying “um” when asked whether she remembered Sullivan, and that her full answer (“I do remember her story”) was included in the opening of episode two.
“A documentary expressly showing Banks remembering does not imply that she forgot,” the filing states.
ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.
Banks said that she agreed to participate in the project because she wanted to have an honest discussion about long-standing criticisms of the show, including its allegedly exploitative nature as one of the first reality shows on TV.
The lawsuit states that after Banks sat for a three-and-half-hour interview, only 16 minutes of her confessional was used and it was “stripped of context and reassembled to support a false and defamatory narrative unrelated to what she actually expressed”.
“Tyra Banks participated in the Netflix documentary series America’s Next Top Model because she believed viewers deserved a candid conversation about the show’s legacy – its successes and its shortcomings,” the lawsuit read. “There are aspects of the show for which Ms Banks takes accountability and she wanted ANTM viewers to hear that from her directly.”