Tyra Banks is suing Netflix, alleging the docuseries “Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model” misled her about the project and used selective editing to fabricate defamatory claims about her. The suit centers on an interview Banks says was cut down fro
Tyra Banks didn’t just watch Netflix’s “Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model” play out on screen. She says Netflix made sure her voice wouldn’t match what she believed she was asked.
Banks is suing Netflix over her participation in the docuseries about “America’s Next Top Model,” which she created and hosted for years. In her complaint, she alleges the creators misled her about the nature of the project and then used editing to make defamatory claims about her.
Netflix dropped three episodes of “Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model” in February. The series revisits the long-running modeling reality competition Banks built in 2003 and spotlights a range of accusations that former contestants have made against production. including allegations of racism. exploitation. body shaming. and sexual assault.
At the center of Banks’ lawsuit is an account of how she says the documentary was framed before filming. She says she participated in a 3.5-hour interview after being told the project would discuss the show’s legacy—its successes and its shortcomings. Banks claims only 16 minutes of that interview were used. and she alleges that parts of her answers. including comments where she took accountability for her actions. were removed.
The complaint describes the editing as a deliberate effort to manufacture a storyline. It says directors Mor Loushy and Daniel Sivan allegedly created a false narrative through what it characterizes as “selective editing. deliberate omission and surgical manipulation of continuous footage.” Banks argues that the result was a portrayal in which she knowingly allowed a contestant to be sexually assaulted on the show. while also exploiting the contestant’s trauma for ratings.
In the suit, Banks calls the depiction deceptive and aimed at a global audience. “That narrative about Ms. Banks is a complete fabrication — one that Netflix streamed to a global audience of millions,” the complaint reads. “The story that viewers heard was the deceptive story producers chose to tell.”.
Banks is asking for a jury to determine how much she should be paid in damages. Netflix has not responded publicly to the lawsuit as the company was reached for comment.
The complaint also zeroes in on one specific scene tied to allegations made by Season 2 contestant Shandi Sullivan. Sullivan alleges that production allowed her to be sexually assaulted while she was intoxicated and on camera.
Sullivan’s account places the incident in Milan. She says a group of men who drove the models on Vespas invited her and other models back to their accommodations for dinner and drinks. She alleges one of them assaulted her in front of production staff, whom she says should have helped her. Sullivan says part of the event was filmed. partially shown on TV. and edited so it would appear as if she cheated on her boyfriend back home.
In the docuseries, the complaint says Loushy asks Banks, “You remember the story with Shandi?” Banks responds, “um,” before the screen cuts to black. Banks argues that implication—suggesting she couldn’t remember the assault—is both “devastating and deliberate.”
The lawsuit says the full footage tells a different story. It states that the directors cut two parts of Banks’ interview that it says would have corrected the impression shown in Episode 1: the complaint says that before an upward glance. Banks nods “affirmatively. unmistakably” and then immediately says. “I do remember her story.” It further alleges that by cutting the nod out of the sequence and ending her comment at the wrong point. producers ensured viewers saw only what the lawsuit characterizes as “the lie” rather than the “truth.”.
The documentary and its allegations land on a show that, when it was at its commercial peak, attracted more than 100 million viewers globally, according to Netflix. “America’s Next Top Model” premiered in 2003 and ran for 24 seasons before concluding in 2018.
Banks’ involvement in “America’s Next Top Model” also includes a brief departure from the series for its penultimate 2016–2017 season, when British pop singer Rita Ora hosted.
What the lawsuit tries to establish is simple: that Banks was told one thing about the project. spoke at length on camera. and then saw the story cut down—and sharpened—into something else for viewers. In the case’s framing. the dispute is not just about what the docuseries says about the show’s past. but about how Banks herself was positioned in the edit.
For now, the docuseries continues to be available as Netflix presents its multi-episode look at allegations involving production. Banks’ claims turn on what viewers saw. what she says was left out. and what she believes the edits were meant to imply—down to a moment as small as a nod and a cut to black.
Tyra Banks Netflix Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model America’s Next Top Model lawsuit Mor Loushy Daniel Sivan Shandi Sullivan selective editing defamation sexual assault allegations