Tyra Banks filed a defamation lawsuit against Netflix in the U.S. District Court, Central District of California, on Saturday, June 13, 2026, alleging that the “Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model” documentary constructed a false narrative from hours of interview footage.
Banks is a supermodel, entrepreneur, and the creator and host of America’s Next Top Model, a reality show where aspiring contestants compete for a chance to begin a career in the modeling industry. Banks agreed to provide an interview for Netflix’s documentary “because she believed viewers deserved a candid conversation about the show’s legacy – its successes and its shortcomings.” Banks participated in the interview for three and a half hours. The complaint alleges that “[o]f the hours of answers Ms. Banks provided, the producers used only about sixteen minutes. The producers used what could be stripped of context and reassembled to support a false and defamatory narrative unrelated to what she actually expressed.” The complaint contends that the accountability provided by Banks during the interview “ended up on the cutting room floor. It was there, but viewers were never given the opportunity to see it.”
At issue is the narrative that 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 complaint argues that the narrative “is a complete fabrication – one that Netflix streamed to a global audience of millions.” Banks contends that she participated in a discussion in which she “was misled to believe was about regret and infidelity, which was the only framing [she] had ever encountered.” Banks alleges that she was never asked a single question that framed the encounter as nonconsensual. Further, Banks argues that the interview was edited to make it appear that “she was being asked about a sexual assault and was intentionally trying to evade the topic.”
According to the complaint, Banks “cannot leave unchallenged. . . the manufactured and false accusation in the Netflix Series suggesting that a young woman on [America’s Next Top Model] was sexually assaulted and Ms. Banks did nothing–worse, that she exploited that woman’s trauma. That is not a lie she can correct in an interview or that will disappear with the passage of time.” Before filing the lawsuit, Banks asked Netflix for access to the unedited footage of the interview in the hope that she could make “the truth public and this litigation would likely have been unnecessary.” The complaint states that the request was refused. “[Banks] wants the public to have the opportunity to view the complete unedited footage and form their own opinions based on the truth.”
The complaint states claims for relief for: (1) false light; (2) defamation by implication; (3) breach of contract; and (4) false endorsement under Section 43(a) of the Lanham Act. The complaint seeks relief in the form of (1) compensatory, actual, assumed, special, punitive, and exemplary damages; (2) an injunction barring the use of an image of Banks used on the music album cover released along with the documentary; (3) interest; (4) and litigation costs.
Additional Reading
Tyra Banks sues Netflix for alleged defamation over ‘America’s Next Top Model’ documentary, ABA Journal (June 16, 2026)
Banks v. Netflix Worldwide Entertainment, LLC et al (Case No. 2:2026cv06467)
Complaint in Banks v. Netflix Worldwide Entertainment, LLC et al
Photo Credit: Rena Schild / Shutterstock.com
