In February, the much-discussed three-part documentary about America’s Next Top Model—in which former judges, contestants, and others involved spoke out about the darker side of the popular modeling competition—dropped on Netflix. Four months later, Tyra Banks is taking the streamer to court for defamation, because—according to the former ANTM judge—the creators deliberately portrayed her as the villain in the documentary.
So…what exactly is going on here?
Why does Tyra Banks think the documentary is defamatory?
Tyra Banks is not exactly happy about her portrayal in the Netflix docuseries Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model. In the lawsuit, the former host and executive producer of America’s Next Top Model claims that the creators created an inaccurate and defamatory image of her through “selective editing, deliberate omission, and surgical manipulation.” Of the three-and-a-half-hour interview Tyra gave for the docuseries, only about 16 minutes were ultimately used. According to her, the moments in which she took responsibility for controversies surrounding the program were precisely the ones left entirely out of the final edit.
Tyra also says that the producers concealed the fact that former ANTM judges Jay Manuel, Miss J Alexander, and Nigel Barker were not only interviewees, but were also attached to the documentary as consultants. They therefore had (according to Tyra) influence over the editorial direction of the series. If she had been aware of that, she says it would have been a major red flag and she would not have participated.
Shandi Sullivan is central to Tyra Banks’s lawsuit
But that is not the only thing, and also not the most important: Tyra claims that the docuseries wrongly suggests that she knowingly allowed former contestant Shandi Sullivan to be sexually abused, that she used Shandi’s trauma for ratings, and that she later could not even remember the incident.
The lawsuit, therefore, focuses (among other things) on the way Shandi’s story from season 2 is told. Tyra states that Shandi’s version of events has changed over the years and emphasizes that she would handle the situation very differently today. She also says that at the time she did not know that Shandi’s experience in Milan may have involved more than a regrettable, but consensual, encounter.
What is Tyra asking the court for?
Exactly how much money Tyra Banks is seeking has not been disclosed. However, the former America’s Next Top Model star is asking for damages for the reputational harm, emotional distress, and financial losses that she says the documentary has caused.
On top of that, she argues that the series could negatively affect her future business opportunities and wants Netflix to stop using her image for promotional materials for the documentary.
Online, not many people seem to be sympathetic
Whether you look on Threads or X, it doesn’t seem as though Tyra Banks is getting much support from ANTM fans. In many reactions, her lawsuit is compared to the way she herself presented certain storylines in America’s Next Top Model for years. Commenters are also bringing up controversial moments from the show again, including the way some contestants were treated.
For many viewers, the accusations in the documentary therefore do not feel like a completely new narrative. Because one thing is clear: the controversies surrounding ANTM are still fresh in many people’s memories, and that makes it difficult for Tyra to get public opinion on her side.
