Tyra Banks has filed a defamation lawsuit against Netflix over a documentary she appeared in called Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model.
Banks claims that her portrayal in the docuseries about her reality TV show, America’s Next Top Model, was edited to support a false and defamatory narrative about her.
She has requested a jury trial to determine the “appropriate” amount she should receive in damages, according to court documents filed on Saturday June 13, obtained by PEOPLE.
“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, according to the outlet.
“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.”
During a three-and-a-half-hour interview, Ms Banks answered questions about the show’s groundbreaking history, including criticism of decisions she would approach differently today, the lawsuit continued.
“The Netflix series Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model (the ‘Netflix Series’) was sold to viewers as a ‘documentary series,’ it says.
“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 just 16 minutes of her lengthy interview was used in the docuseries, and that the clips were “stripped of context and reassembled to support a false and defamatory narrative unrelated to what she actually expressed.”
She claims she took accountability for some of the most controversial moments in ANTM but that they were not included in the docuseries.
“Worse, 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 states.
“That narrative about Ms. Banks is a complete fabrication — one that Netflix streamed to a global audience of millions.”
The three-part docu-series looked back on the controversies and impactful moments from the iconic show, which was created and hosted by Banks and followed hopefuls trying to score a coveted modelling contract.
Among the ANTM moments revisited in the doco is the infamous scene where Banks screamed at contestant Tiffany Richardson for seemingly not taking the competition seriously.
“I have never in my life yelled at a girl like this. When my mother yelled at me like this, it’s because she loves me,” Banks yelled in the 2005 episode.
“I was rooting for you. We were all rooting for you.”
The shock blow-up left Banks’ fellow judges with their jaws on the floor while a clip of the moment quickly went viral on social media.
In the doco, Banks reflected on the incident while explaining why she unleashed on Richardson, who was just 22 at the time.
Speaking on camera, Banks, now 52, said she was simply disappointed that Richardson was not taking the opportunity that not many Black people are given.
“I went too far. You know, I lost it,” Banks said on the doco. “It was probably bigger than her. It was family, friends, society, Black girls, all the challenges that we have. So many people saying that we’re not good enough. I think all that was in that moment.”
“That’s some Black-girl stuff that goes real deep inside of me, but I knew I went too far.”
But Banks’ confessional did not cut it for Richardson, who took to Instagram to label Bank’s narrative a lie.
“Hold up @tyrabanks let’s keep it cute … you are 1 lying a** b***h … you know how you treated me the whole time off and on camera, YOU WAS A BULLY!!!” Richardson wrote in a since-deleted Instagram post.
“You treated me like s*** and said the nastiest things about me and my son. That is not how the argument went but YALL EDITED TO MAKE IT LOOK LIKE YOU CARED.”
She added, “F**K YOU @tyrabanks I BET YOU WONT SIT DOWN WITH ME FACE TO FACE AND TALK ABOUT IT!!!”
Creative director and then-judge Jay Manuel also appeared on the doco, sharing his insights into the heated moment of which some parts apparently did not make it on screens.
“It was definitely the most difficult moment on set I’ve ever experienced. When they were done shooting, production staff literally just took Tyra off set,” Manuel said on camera.
“There was a lot more that was really said, and some of the things that were said were really not well-intentioned. I’ll probably never repeat the lines that were actually said in that room that day.”
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