Tyra Banks continues to pursue her lawsuit against Netflix over her depiction in ‘Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model,’ with her new filing including side-by-side video receipts to back her claims.
As The Ashley previously told you, the former ‘America’s Next Top Model’ creator/executive producer/judge filed a defamation lawsuit against Netflix in June in response to the way she was portrayed in the ‘Reality Check’ three-part docuseries.
In her lawsuit, Tyra is accusing Netflix of purposely editing her interview in order to portray an alternative narrative against her, while also alleging that the producers were purposely “deceptive.” While Netflix filed a motion in August to dismiss the defamation suit, and both the streamer and EverWonder Studio filed an anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) motion, Tyra responded this week by filing another claim.
According to People, included in the latest filing from Tyra and her attorneys are side-by-side video examples to prove their claim that the filmmakers behind ‘Reality Check’ misrepresented Tyra “through selective deletion, arrangement and other editing techniques.”
The first example included in the filing shows Tyra responding to a ‘Reality Check’ producer asking her about the sexual assault incident involving Cycle 2 contestant Shandi Sullivan. In both Episode 1 and 2 of the docuseries, Tyra is asked, “You remember the story with Shandi?” Tyra and her lawyers note, however, that Episode 1 cuts the nod of acknowledgment Tyra gave before giving her answer.
“[Tyra] is left apparently unable to say whether she remembers the assault of a contestant on her own show,” the filing states, as reported by Deadline. “The nod was not cut off. It was cut out.”
The filing goes on to allege “willful misconduct,” insisting that Netflix and ‘Reality Check’ directors “held the full footage, understood that it contradicted the impressions they were creating, and cut it for the purpose of conveying those false impressions.”
The second side-by-side video also involves Shandi’s Cycle 2 storyline, with this example comparing how a scene about Shandi cheating on her boyfriend was originally broadcast to how it was edited in the docuseries.
“As originally broadcast, [Shandi] asks [Tyra] whether she has ever cheated or been cheated on,” the filing reads. “[Tyra] answers, sees [Shandi] tearing up, and asks whether she’s okay. The Docuseries deletes [Shandi’s] question, reverses the order, and adds a commentator to tell viewers that ‘it is not a coincidence that she starts talking about cheating’ and that she has ‘producers in her ear.’
“[Shandi] raised the subject,” the filing continues. “The Docuseries says [Tyra] did.”
These side-by-side receipts come just a month after Tyra and her legal team called for Netflix to release her “complete, unedited interview” from the docuseries, as she claims that facts are “being hidden” by the streaming platform.
In an emailed statement to The Ashley last month, Tyra’s team stated that Tyra was aware that the docuseries would, of course, be edited. However, they argued that Tyra felt that the edits actually changed what she said.
“Tyra Banks’ lawsuit raises a simple question: can viewers trust that a documentary presented as fact fairly represents what happened and what people actually said?” Tom Clare of Clare Locke LLP wrote. “Netflix’s response only underscores the issue.”
Netflix’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit is slated to be heard in a Los Angeles court on October 30.
‘Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model’ is currently streaming on Netflix.
You can watch the side-by-side videos from Tyra’s latest filing below.
(Photos: Netflix; Instagram; YouTube)
