Netflix seek to have Tyra Banks' lawsuit thrown out
After Tyra Banks sued Netflix for defamation over their America's Next Top Model docuseries, the streaming service have sought to have the lawsuit dismissed.
Netflix have sought to have Tyra Banks' lawsuit against them thrown out.
The 52-year-old model filed a defamation lawsuit against the streaming service in June, alleging she has suffered "significant mental anguish" over the way she is portrayed in their docuseries Reality Check: Inside America's Next Top Model, accusing producers of using just 16 minutes of a three-and-a-half-hour interview with her, which was shown as clips that were "stripped of context and reassembled to support a false and defamatory narrative unrelated to what she actually expressed."
And on Friday (14.08.26), Netflix submitted documents to the court asking them to dismiss her claims.
A spokesperson told Us Weekly: “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.
“We stand behind Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model and will continue to vigorously defend it.”
Following the court submission, Tyra called on Netflix to release the unedited version of her interview, having accused them of distorting the truth.
Her attorneys, Tom Locke and Clare Locke, said in a statment: “Tyra’s lawsuit raises a simple question: can viewers trust that a documentary presented as fact fairly represents what happened and what people actually said? Netflix’s response only underscores the issue.
"It points to the editing of reality television to defend the editing of this documentary. 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.
“Netflix has Tyra’s complete, unedited interview. 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.”
In her lawsuit, Tyra argued the docuseries featured "manufactured drama" and "constructed narratives".
Court documents obtained by People magazine stated: "The Netflix series Reality Check: Inside America's Next Top Model (the 'Netflix Series') was sold to viewers as a 'documentary series'.
"Netflix called it 'the definitive, must-watch chronicle of America's Next Top Model.' The genre matters. Viewers of a documentary do not expect manufactured drama or constructed narratives. They expect facts. Because they were promised a documentary, that is exactly how viewers interacted with the Netflix Series."
Tyra - who wants a jury to determine the "appropriate" amount she should receive in damages - claimed the accountability she took for some of America's Next Top Model's most controversial moments were edited out.
The lawsuit added: "Worse, 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.
"That narrative about Ms. Banks is a complete fabrication—one that Netflix streamed to a global audience of millions."
Because of what Tyra feels was a "false and defamatory" portrayal of her on the docuseries, she is suing for "damages, including loss of future business opportunities, loss of business income, other compounding losses as will be shown at trial."
