Tyra Banks Sues Netflix Over Edited Documentary on America’s Next Top Model

Tyra Banks has filed a defamation lawsuit against Netflix, claiming the streamer and the Israeli filmmakers behind its documentary about America’s Next Top Model manipulated her interview and damaged her reputation. The suit was filed on Saturday, and Banks is asking a jury to decide damages.

Banks says Reality Bites: Back to America’s Next Top Model was marketed as a documentary and therefore promised viewers a factual account, not a selective or dramatized version. She argues that only 16 minutes were used from a three-and-a-half-hour interview, and that the chosen clips were taken out of context and reassembled to support a false, defamatory narrative. She also says comments in which she took responsibility for controversial moments were cut.

According to the complaint, the producers used selective editing and omissions to make it appear that Banks knowingly allowed a contestant to be sexually assaulted, exploited her trauma for ratings, and then could not remember the incident when asked about it. Banks calls that portrayal “a complete fabrication” and says she did not know in advance that contestant Shandi Sullivan would be featured or that she would describe the incident as sexual assault. The suit says the implication was “devastating and intentional.”

The documentary is made by Israeli filmmakers Mor Loushy and Daniel Sivan. Banks also challenges remarks attributed to Loushy, including that Banks was given a chance to address the show’s controversies and “had a lot of honest answers.” Director Kaye Wicker told TheGrio the film would have been made even without Banks’ participation. Banks hosted the first 22 seasons of America’s Next Top Model after selling the concept to UPN, and the first season aired in 2003. Netflix and the other creators have not yet responded.