Netflix has filed a motion to strike and dismiss Tyra Banks’ defamation lawsuit over her portrayal in the docuseries “Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model,” arguing that her complaints center on routine editorial choices.
The streaming service submitted the motion on Friday, responding to the lawsuit Banks filed in June. In her complaint, Banks said the docuseries misrepresented her by stripping her comments of context and reassembling them into a false and defamatory narrative that bore no relation to what she actually expressed.
Banks sat for an interview that lasted three and a half hours, yet only about 16 minutes of that conversation appears in the final cut of “Reality Check.” Netflix’s filing acknowledges that Banks signed an agreement after the interview that gave the filmmakers the right to edit her footage, allowed no right to review or approve the finished documentary, and released all claims arising from it, including defamation and false light.
The motion argues that Banks’ lawsuit does not rest on any false statement, but rather on her desire for advance notice of what another interviewee would say, for more of her interview to be included, and for her perspective to be presented differently.
The dispute centers in part on a moment involving Shandi Sullivan, a contestant from the show’s second cycle who has alleged she was sexually assaulted during filming. In the docuseries, Banks is shown being asked, “You remember the story with Shandi?” and responding with “um,” after which the screen cuts to black. Banks’ lawsuit describes that sequence as a “devastating and deliberate” implication that she did not remember the assault. Netflix’s motion counters that the documentary actually shows Banks saying, “I do remember her story,” and argues that a documentary explicitly showing Banks remembering cannot be said to imply she forgot.
The filing also stresses Banks’ own background in unscripted television. “Banks understands editorial discretion. She created, hosted, and executive produced 24 seasons of ANTM, making the same kinds of editorial decisions she now attacks: what footage to include, what to omit, and how to present competing narratives,” the motion states. “The Documentary simply turned that editorial lens back on ANTM and Banks. Her disagreement with the resulting portrayal does not make it defamatory.”
A Netflix spokesperson told ABC News on Friday that the company intends to “vigorously defend” the docuseries and the people behind it. “Directors Daniel Sivan and Mor Loushy are respected documentarians who thoroughly interviewed the people behind America’s Next Top Model,” the spokesperson said. “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.”
The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to Banks’ legal team for comment.
Netflix, meanwhile, has pledged to continue defending the film.
