Key Takeaways
- Tyra Banks, through attorney Tom Clare, rejects Netflix’s bid to dismiss her defamation suit and challenges the streamer to release her full unedited Reality Check interview so viewers can see whether the docuseries distorted her words.
- Banks argues the issue isn’t creative control but whether Netflix’s editing “materially distorted the truth,” especially around her recollection of former America’s Next Top Model contestant Shandi Sullivan’s alleged sexual assault.
- Netflix cites Banks’ signed agreement waiving rights to review and defamation claims and says the series fairly presents her perspective, while it and EverWonder Studio pursue an anti-SLAPP motion and vow to vigorously defend the documentary.
Tyra Banks' legal team is firing back after Netflix moved to dismiss her defamation lawsuit over Reality Check: Inside America's Next Top Model, challenging the streamer to release Banks' complete interview and allow viewers to compare the raw footage with what appeared in the docuseries.
In an emailed statement provided by Banks' representatives, attorney Tom Clare of Clare Locke LLP rejected Netflix's characterization of the dispute as a disagreement over editorial control.
"Tyra Banks' lawsuit raises a simple question: can viewers trust that a documentary presented as fact fairly represents what happened and what people actually said?" Clare said. "Netflix's response only underscores the issue."
Clare maintained that Banks isn't objecting to the basic fact that documentaries are edited. Instead, her lawsuit concerns whether those choices "materially distorted the truth."
He added, "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."
Banks' team is now calling for Netflix to make her complete, unedited interview publicly available.
"If Netflix stands behind the accuracy of its documentary, it should release that interview in full and let viewers judge for themselves," Clare said. "Let the public compare what Tyra actually said with what Netflix chose to show."
The response comes after Netflix filed a motion on August 14 seeking to dismiss Banks' lawsuit. The streamer argues that the former America's Next Top Model host signed an agreement acknowledging that she had "no right to review or approve" the completed documentary and released certain claims stemming from her participation, including defamation and false light. Netflix and EverWonder Studio have also filed an anti-SLAPP motion.
Netflix previously told People that filmmakers Daniel Sivan and Mor Loushy gave Banks the opportunity to discuss her experiences and "fairly presented her perspective alongside those of every other participant" in the three-part series. The company said it plans to "vigorously defend" the documentary.
Banks filed her lawsuit in June, claiming Reality Check used selective editing and omissions to create a false narrative about her role in controversial moments from America's Next Top Model. Among her central objections is the documentary's treatment of Cycle 2 contestant Shandi Sullivan, who has described a sexual encounter filmed during the competition as an alleged sexual assault.
Banks claims her interview was edited to suggest she didn't remember Sullivan's story. According to her lawsuit, the unedited footage instead shows Banks nodding and stating, "I do remember her story."
Netflix has disputed that characterization, arguing that the documentary itself shows Banks remembering Sullivan and does not allege that Banks was present during the incident, could have intervened, covered it up, or later forgot about it.
The lawsuit follows months of renewed discussion about America's Next Top Model. The Netflix series included criticism from former contestants and staff, while Banks acknowledged some of her own decisions, including telling Cycle 4 contestant Tiffany Richardson, "We were all rooting for you." Banks said in the documentary that she "went too far" during that confrontation.
Now the dispute has moved from what happened during America’s Next Top Model to how that history is being retold.
