Tyra Banks Sues Netflix for Defamation Over ANTM Documentary

A lawsuit filed by Tyra Banks against Netflix accuses a documentary series about America’s Next Top Model of maliciously editing her footage to smear her legacy.

According to Banks, the producers of the documentary, “Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model,” selected only 16 minutes out of more than three hours of an interview they conducted with her, piecing her words together into what Banks’ lawsuit calls a “false and defamatory narrative” that resulted in lost business opportunities, loss of income, and significant emotional distress.

Banks agreed to appear in the documentary, she says, because she wanted to honestly revisit the legacy of “America’s Next Top Model”-even with aspects that she would do differently today.

But instead, the documentary allegedly edited Banks’s comments into an attempt to make it appear as though she knowingly allowed a contestant on the show to be sexually assaulted and was unable to remember the event when questioned about it.

“That narrative about Ms. Banks is a complete fabrication, one that Netflix streamed to a global audience of millions,” the lawsuit reads.

The suit also attacks a segment including remarks by former “ANTM” judge Miss J. Alexander, who stated in a video recorded in August 2023 that Banks had not visited him after he suffered a stroke in 2022.

Banks says producers failed to allow her an opportunity to address his comments, despite the fact that she had spent many years after moving to Australia trying to keep in touch with him.

Banks is seeking financial damages to compensate for damage to her reputation, lost business, lost income, and emotional distress, and has requested a jury trial.
Netflix has not yet responded publicly to the lawsuit.