Tyra Banks Sues Netflix Over Defamation Claims

'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.’

Banks alleges that only 16 minutes of her extensive interview footage was ultimately used, with those clips ‘stripped of context and reassembled to support a false and defamatory narrative unrelated to what she actually expressed’.

She further claims that moments in which she accepted responsibility for some of the show’s most controversial incidents were omitted from the final cut.

The lawsuit adds, ‘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.'

In the documentary, Sullivan spoke candidly about the incident during Cycle 2, which has since become one of the most discussed moments from the show’s early seasons.

Footage from the series showed Sullivan appearing to have a sexual encounter with an Italian model, before later breaking down in tears while calling her boyfriend, who ultimately ended their relationship.

However, Sullivan has since claimed that what was originally portrayed as a drunken indiscretion was in fact a sexual assault, saying she had ‘blacked out’ due to alcohol and that ‘no one did anything to stop it.’

Speaking in the Netflix series, she recalled: ‘I remember being in the shower. And then just sitting in the shower. And then we were in the bed.’

She added: ‘I was blacked out for a lot of it. I didn’t even feel sex happening, I just knew it was happening, and then I passed out.’

Reflecting on the production, Sullivan suggested staff should have intervened, saying: ‘I think after getting out of the hot tub, and whatever happened after that, I think they should’ve been like, “All right, this has gone too far. We gotta pull her out of this.”’

Executive producer Ken Mok appeared to defend the approach, saying the show was always intended to function as a documentary-style production.

‘We told the girls that on day one, when they would show up, “There’s going to be cameras with you 24/7, day in and day out, and they’re going to cover everything,”’ he said.

Banks, meanwhile, said in the doc: ‘It’s a little difficult for me to talk about production because that’s not my territory.’