Tyra was rooting for you, Netflix!

On Saturday, America’s Next Top Model creator and judge Tyra Banks filed a defamation lawsuit against Netflix for the way she was portrayed on their three-part docuseries Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model. The series– which was released on the platform in February– included one-on-one interviews with models, judges, network executives, and Tyra herself as they looked back at the show’s complicated history over its 24-cycle run.

Over the last four months, Tyra has received backlash from viewers over her deflection and lack of accountability when confronted in the series. To name a few questionable moments:

• Tyra refused to discuss her fallout with former costar and best friend Jay Manuel.
• Costar Miss J Alexander revealed that after his stroke that paralyzed him in 2022, Tyra didn’t come visit him in the hospital and claimed that she was one of the last people to reach out to him.
• Tyra claimed the infamous “I Was Rooting For You” blowup with model Tiffany Richardson was very “tough” for her. Tyra did not mention that there was much more to the argument than was aired– some of which Miss J said were “not well-intentioned” – and she did not say that she was sorry for the incident.

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In light of… all of that, Tyra is claiming that the documentary was purposely edited to portray a false narrative against her. According to the court documents obtained first by PEOPLE, she is now asking for a jury trial to determine the “appropriate” compensation for her troubles.

“[Tyra] did share her side. Her answers were very honest. But the story that viewers heard was the deceptive story producers chose to tell,” the docs claim.

The documents explain that “Tyra Banks participated in the Netflix documentary series [on] America’s Next Top Model (‘ANTM’) because she believed viewers deserved a candid conversation about the show’s legacy– its successes and its shortcomings. There are aspects of the show for which Ms. Banks takes accountability and she wanted ANTM viewers to hear that from her directly.”

The docs claim that Tyra “did not limit the ANTM topics the interviewer could ask,” but claims that only 16 minutes of her lengthy interview was used. She believes the clips that were included were “stripped of context and reassembled to support a false and defamatory narrative unrelated to what she actually expressed.”

The lawsuit alleges that Netflix lied to audiences by marketing the series as a documentary, saying, “The genre matters.”

“Viewers of a documentary do not expect manufactured drama or constructed narratives,” they continue. “They expect facts. Because they were promised a documentary, that is exactly how viewers interacted with the Netflix Series.”

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The suit claims that the producers “constructed– through selective editing, deliberate omission, and surgical manipulation of continuous footage–” a false narrative that chose to forgo moments where Tyra allegedly took accountability for her role in many controversial moments from the show.

One of those moments that was specifically mentioned in the suit was the Cycle 2 sexual assault incident with Shandi Sullivan. (Get the series’ depiction of the incident here.) On the show, although Tyra was not physically there for the incident, she did initiate a conversation about cheating with the models to push Shandi to admit that she was assaulted; however, instead of portraying the incident as dangerous, the show villanized Shandi and portrayed her as a cheater. When asked about the incident during the series, Tyra claimed to only vaguely remember the story and repeatedly claimed that she had no control of how production was going to spin any of the footage for the show– despite literally being an executive producer on every cycle.

The docs said that the series “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,” they stated. Tyra allegedly had no idea that Shandi considered the incident as sexual assault and her lawyers claim that the omission of her comments on the incident was “devastating and deliberate.”

“The full footage of Ms. Banks’ interview reveals two things that the producers cut out and did not show viewers in Episode 1: before the upward glance, Ms. Banks nods—affirmatively, unmistakably—and immediately says, ‘I do remember her story,’” they claim. “By carving the nod out of the middle of the sequence and cutting off Ms. Banks’ comment at the end, the producers ensured that viewers would see only the lie and not the truth.”

The lawsuit also addresses the Miss J allegations, claiming that production failed to explain that Tyra had been living in Australia at the time and didn’t give her the opportunity to show unanswered text messages to Miss J. She also allegedly sent messages to other crew members trying to find him after his stroke.

“She would have shown how hard she tried to get in touch with Miss J personally when she had initially heard the news of his stroke. And she would have shown the text message that arrived from Miss J’s family member who eventually texted back months later and apologized for not responding to Ms. Banks’ texts and multiple calls sooner due to her being focused on getting him better,” they say.

Allegedly, Miss J and Tyra were in contact for three years after the stroke,“spoke live on the phone at least once,” and texted “as recently as Christmas Day 2025.” That text reportedly showed that Tyra asked Miss J to set up a time to call, which did not occur before the docuseries was released.

In addition to suing for damages, Tyra is also suing for “loss of future business opportunities, loss of business income, other compounding losses as will be shown at trial.” She is also seeking compensation for being involved with the series after experiencing “significant mental anguish.”

‘Reality Check’ directors Kay Wicker and Mor Loushy, Netflix, and Tyra have yet to personally comment on the lawsuit.

(Photos: Netflix; Instagram)