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Even those who celebrate Tyra Banks often see her as an almost cartoonishly villainous figure.
Her own on-screen behavior and antics have reinforced this notion.
But Tyra says that the Netflix doc that came out earlier this year went too far, using dishonest editing.
She’s suing for defamation and more, saying that her words were spliced to make her look evil to audiences.
She’s suing Netflix
On Saturday, June 13, Tyra filed a defamation lawsuit against Netflix over her portrayal on the 3-part Real Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model docuseries from February.
Unlike some similar documentaries, Tyra actually participated — even if she avoided some topics, like her erstwhile friendship with Jay Manuel.
In her legal filing, which People obtained, she alleges that the docuseries was maliciously edited to reinforce a false narrative against her.
Tyra is seeking a jury trial to determine “appropriate” compensation.
“[Tyra] did share her side. Her answers were very honest,” the legal filing claims. “But the story that viewers heard was the deceptive story producers chose to tell.”
“Tyra Banks participated in the Netflix documentary series [on] America’s Next Top Model (‘ANTM’),” the filing explained.
The explanation continued: “Because she believed viewers deserved a candid conversation about the show’s legacy — its successes and its shortcomings.”
Tyra’s team added: “There are aspects of the show for which Ms. Banks takes accountability and she wanted ANTM viewers to hear that from her directly.”
Pursuant to this goal, the filing says that she “did not limit the ANTM topics the interviewer could ask.”
Even so, the filing alleges that only 16 minutes of Tyra’s lengthy interview made it into the final docuseries.
We allegedly didn’t see part of her responses to really pivotal topics
Tyra believes that the clips what the docuseries did include were “stripped of context and reassembled to support a false and defamatory narrative unrelated to what she actually expressed.”
A big issue in the filing is that the doc was marketed as a documentary, with the filing arguing that “the genre matters.”
“Viewers of a documentary do not expect manufactured drama or constructed narratives,” the filing notes. “They expect facts.”
Tyra’s team argues: “Because they were promised a documentary, that is exactly how viewers interacted with the Netflix Series.”
The filing highlights specific moments from interviews — moments that Netflix’s editors allegedly spliced out to rob other statements of context, and to make Tyra appear more villainous.
Among the moments that Tyra alleges were robbed of vital context were the sexual assault of Shandi Sullivan and Miss J’s stroke and recovery.
Her lawsuit isn’t only about damages.
Tyra is suing for “loss of future business opportunities, loss of business income, other compounding losses as will be shown at trial.”
She also wants compensation for being part of the series given the “significant mental anguish” that she has experienced in the aftermath.
This sounds like a complex legal matter. We don’t know which way a jury might rule. There’s a non-zero chance that this ends with an out of court settlement of some kind. We’ll certainly be paying attention as this lawsuit unfolds.