Netflix has reportedly asked a court to throw out supermodel Tyra Banks’ lawsuit over her appearance in a bombshell documentary about “America’s Next Top Model.”
The streaming giant filed documents on Friday asking a judge to dismiss Banks’ defamation claims — which she filed back in June — over “Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model,” according to Us Weekly.
A spokesperson for Netflix told the outlet on Saturday that directors Daniel Sivan and Mor Loushy “are respected documentarians who thoroughly interviewed the people behind ‘America’s Next Top Model.’”
“Tyra Banks was given the opportunity to speak openly about her experience and the creators fairly presented her perspective alongside those of every other participant shown in this documentary,” the statement continued.
“We stand behind ‘Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model’ and will continue to vigorously defend it.”
The former Victoria’s Secret model, 52, sued the streamer in federal court in California earlier this summer, claiming she was manipulated into participating in the documentary and taking exception to certain aspects that were thrown out — and some that were included.
In her filing, Banks asked for a jury trial to determine the “appropriate” amount in damages she believes she’s entitled to.
According to People, court documents claimed that the model participated in the lengthy interview process “because she believed viewers deserved a candid conversation about the show’s legacy — its successes and its shortcomings.”
“There are aspects of the show for which Ms. Banks takes accountability and she wanted ‘ANTM’ viewers to hear that from her directly,” they added.
The lawsuit noted that Banks “did not limit the ‘ANTM’ topics the interviewer could ask,” and claimed that 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.”
Still, she claimed, just 16 minutes of the footage — which she described in docs as “stripped of context and reassembled to support a false and defamatory narrative unrelated to what she actually expressed” — made it into the final cut.
The documentary was allegedly “sold to the viewers as a ‘documentary series,’” the filing read, adding that “viewers of a documentary do not expect manufactured drama or constructed narratives.”
“They expect facts,” the lawsuit read. “Because they were promised a documentary, that is exactly how viewers interacted with the Netflix Series.”
Attorneys for Banks, Tom Locke and Clare Locke, told Us Weekly in a statement that her lawsuit “raises a simple question: can viewers trust that a documentary presented as fact fairly represents what happened and what people actually said?” They added, “Netflix’s response only underscores the issue.”
“It points to the editing of reality television to defend the editing of this documentary,” the statement went on. “No one disputes that documentaries are edited. The question is whether those edits materially distorted the truth. This is not about Tyra being ‘dissatisfied’ with an edit, nor is it about wanting creative control. It is about whether viewers were given an accurate representation of her words and the facts.”
The attorneys further challenged the streaming platform to release the full footage from Banks’ interview.
“Netflix has Tyra’s complete, unedited interview,” the attorneys said. “If Netflix stands behind the accuracy of its documentary, it should release that interview in full and let viewers judge for themselves. Let the public compare what Tyra actually said with what Netflix chose to show. The facts are the facts and, here, the facts are recorded and being hidden by Netflix.”
Page Six has reached out to reps for Banks and Netflix.
In the series, the model memorably addressed some aspects of the show that have been called out since it wrapped in 2018 after 24 seasons.
In her lawsuit, Banks also took aim at topics that made it to the final cut, including former “ANTM” contestant Shandi Sullivan’s claim that she was sexually assaulted in Italy.
Footage from the season depicted her seemingly consuming alcohol with other contestants before climbing into bed with a male model.
Sullivan — who had a boyfriend at the time — claimed she had blacked out amid the alleged incident, and the series depicted the interaction as a cheating scandal.
In a confessional clip, Banks seemingly confessed to being aware of Sullivan’s allegations but said she wasn’t involved in the editing of the storyline or other aspects of production.
“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,” Banks’ lawsuit read.
“That narrative about Ms. Banks is a complete fabrication — one that Netflix streamed to a global audience of millions.”
In the documents, Banks also lashed out at claims that after a crew member reported a cast member had engaged in a “pattern” of inappropriate conduct, she shut down production.
“That response would not have been hypothetical,” the documents read. “It would have been 20 based on what Ms. Banks actually did during one cycle after a person on the crew reported directly to Ms. Banks that another regular member of the ANTM cast had engaged in a pattern of inappropriate sexual conduct during production of ANTM.”
“Ms. Banks immediately shared the report with other executives and ensured the issue was escalated to the network,” the lawsuit added, noting that “Ms. Banks acted promptly and gave the matter the serious attention it deserved” and that “production was paused so the entire cast and crew could undergo sexual harassment training conducted by an outside expert.”
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