Tyra Banks sues Netflix for defamation over docuseries

Former supermodel Tyra Banks has launched a high-stakes legal war against Netflix.

According to media reports, Banks filed a massive defamation lawsuit against the streaming giant on June 13, 2026, following her controversial portrayal in the newly released docuseries “Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model”.

The lawsuit takes direct aim at the streaming service’s marketing tactics, claiming that the project “was sold to viewers as a documentary series” while allegedly misrepresenting the facts behind the iconic reality show.

The lawsuit states: “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,” the lawsuit added, claiming that many clips were “stripped of context and reassembled to support a false and defamatory narrative unrelated to what she actually expressed.”

The lawsuit states that Banks agreed to make an appearance in the show as “she believed viewers deserved a candid conversation about the show’s legacy—its successes and its shortcomings.” But instead of playing fair, the suit alleges, Netflix completely axed the footage where she took blame for the show’s biggest scandals, leaving viewers with a deceptively edited final cut designed to make her look bad.

In the docuseries, which explored alleged incidents of bullying, body shaming and racial profiling on the “America’s Next Top Model” set, cycle 2 contestant Shandi Sullivan claimed she had been sexually assaulted on-camera while filming the show in Italy in 2003.

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The lawsuit states that Banks was asked directly about the harrowing incident during her interview for the Netflix docuseries, and she made it clear she had absolutely no involvement in what happened. However, the 52-year-old supermodel claims that Netflix cleverly cut the footage to make it look like she was personally responsible for the same.

“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,” the filing read. “That narrative about Ms. Banks is a complete fabrication, one that Netflix streamed to a global audience of millions.”

While Banks, who served as executive producer and host of 22 cycles of the show, starting from 2003, did “share her side,” the filing added, “her answers were very honest. But the story that viewers heard was the deceptive story producers chose to tell.”

The 2026 docuseries featured interviews from Banks, as well as executive producer Ken Mok and former judges Jay Manuel, Miss J. Alexander and Nigel Barker as they recalled the best and worst on-air moments of “America’s Next Top Model”. The exposé also featured former contestants of the reality show who shared their experiences.