Tyra Banks sues Netflix over America’s Next Top Model documentary

Tyra Banks has sued Netflix over a documentary released in February, Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model.

The model filed a defamation lawsuit against the streaming service and the documentary’s directors, alleging that they manipulated hours of her interview footage to construct a false narrative.

Banks was the creator, executive producer and host of the reality show, which premiered in 2003. She went on to present the series for 22 seasons until 2015. America’s Next Top Model followed a group of contestants competing for the title of America’s next top model.

In recent years, the show has been revisited and criticised for its portrayal of body standards and its treatment of contestants.

In her lawsuit, Banks claims that not enough of the three-and-a-half-hour interview she gave for the documentary was included.

“The accountability Ms. Banks took ended up on the cutting room floor,” the lawsuit says, according to The New York Times.

“Left with no alternative, Ms. Banks brings this action to hold the producers accountable, to compel the production of the unedited footage they have refused to release to Ms. Banks, and to vindicate the reputation they deliberately impaired,” the complaint says.