Tyra Banks sues Netflix over ANTM documentary editing

Tyra Banks has filed a defamation lawsuit against Netflix and the creators of the documentary series Reality Check: Inside America's Next Top Model, alleging that producers manipulated hours of interview footage to construct a false narrative.

Banks was interviewed for three and a half hours, during which she assumed responsibility for several controversial decisions from the show. According to the complaint filed Saturday in U.S. federal court in Los Angeles, those interviews were reduced to just 16 minutes and edited "to support a false and defamatory narrative unrelated to what she actually expressed."

"The acceptance of responsibility by Ms. Banks ended up in the trash in the editing room. She was there, but viewers never got the chance to see it," her attorneys wrote.

Banks is seeking damages and an injunction against the use of her image related to the documentary's soundtrack, which was released as an album. The suit also names directors Daniel Sivan and Mor Loushy, and production company EverWonder Studio as defendants.

The complaint alleges that producers used "selective editing, deliberate omissions, and surgical manipulation of original footage" to suggest Banks knew she was being questioned about a sexual assault allegation and intentionally evaded the topic. Banks' attorneys argue she was never informed about nor questioned regarding the assault during her interview. She was not allowed to view the documentary before it aired on February 16 and was not contacted for fact-checking after her interviews concluded. Other judges from the show, including one described in the complaint as bearing a grudge against Banks, were consulted on the series' editorial direction—a role Banks said she would have known about had she been aware of their involvement.