In 2003, the reality show America’s Next Top Model hit and became a highly controversial sensation. Series creator, host, and judge Trya Banks is suing Netflix over what she claims are false narratives in its recent docuseries, Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model.
Banks’ defamation lawsuit says that the company cut a 3 1/2-hour interview she gave, down to just 16 minutes. Her comments were “stripped of context and reassembled to support a false and defamatory narrative unrelated to what she actually expressed.”
“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,” according to the lawsuit. “That narrative about Ms. Banks is a complete fabrication — one that Netflix streamed to a global audience of millions.”
The assault references Shandi Sullivan, a Cycle 2 contestant. On the show, her story was portrayed as cheating on her boyfriend with a male model. Sullivan says that she was blacked out when she was assaulted.
Tricky Editing?
When Reality Check asked Banks, “You remember the story with Shandi?”. She is seen saying “um” before the screen cuts to black. Creating a “devastating and deliberate” implication that she didn’t remember something so awful.
“But that was false,” Banks’ attorneys claim. “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.’ 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 contends that Sullivan’s claim of assault is “something Ms. Banks had never heard before and was not told during her interview.” She also claims the interview places no limits on questons, so they could have directly asked. “Defendants edited the Netflix Series to make it appear that Ms. Banks knew she was being asked about a sexual assault and was intentionally trying to evade the topic. Ms. Banks respects Ms. Sullivan’s perspective and the courage it takes for Ms. Sullivan and others to speak up.”
“Ms. Banks wishes somebody involved with the Netflix Series would have told her what Ms. Sullivan shared with them,” the filing continues. “But they deliberately chose not to.”
Damages
Banks is seeking damages for “loss of future business opportunities, loss of business income, other compounding losses as will be shown at trial.” Claiming Reality Check did “significant harm and damage to the personal brand she has worked for decades to build and maintain throughout the world.” The filing also claims that sales of her Sydney-based ice cream company, SMiZE & DREAM, have “plummeted.” She is seeking a jury trial to determine the amount she should be awarded in damages.
We’ll keep you posted on updates about Banks’ lawsuit as the situation develops.
