Tyra Banks SUES Netflix Over "Documentary" Trashing Her

Turning the page to Tyra Banks. This is very interesting, Mark. She is suing Netflix for their fake documentary about her show, America's Next Top Model. We've talked on this show with our audience for years about how these documentaries on Netflix are nothing of the sort. You know, I wouldn't go so far as to say mockumentary, but they should be called docudramas, because they take a nugget of truth. You know, a couple of things that we know, there was a show called America's Next Top Model. Tyra Banks was its creator and host. There was drama involving models. And then they dramatize storylines. I've heard this from so many people who have been connected to these products. And I have to say, good for Tyra Banks for doing something about it. You're going to tell me whether you think she's got a legal claim, but I'm glad she's calling attention to this. She says they manipulated her participation in their documentary on her show. It's a lawsuit accusing them of defamation through deceptive editing. She claims that the 3.5 hour interview she did for the series was heavily manipulated and cut down to only 16 minutes to create a false narrative. She says clips were stripped of context and reassembled to support a false and defamatory narrative unrelated to what actually was expressed. She contends that the accountability she took for some of the more controversial moments in the show were edited out entirely of the docuseries. She says, look, I didn't limit the approaches or the topics that they could come at me with, but they sold this as a documentary and they made an active effort quite clearly to take out all context in my denials. There are two topics in particular. One, it's about season two and its contestant, Shandi Sullivan, allegedly being sexually assaulted while on the show. In the series, Shandi Sullivan recalls the situation when the models were in Italy and male models who had driven the girls around Milan that day came over to their house. She could be seen, Shandi could, in the original episode, drinking wine and partying in a hot tub before getting in bed with one of the men. Listen to SOT 43 with Shandi Sullivan talking about what happened to her in season one. I remember him on top of me. I was blacked out. No one did anything to stop it. And it all got filmed, all of it. I didn't even feel sex happening. I just knew it was happening. Okay. So that's her in the documentary recounting this terrible thing that happened to her. And she says, I was, I was hammered. I think I had two bottles of wine by myself, but this terrible thing happened to me. And I was like, holy ----, what happened to me? According to the lawsuit that Tyra filed, the series allegedly implies that Banks knowingly allowed this contestant to be sexually assaulted and then did not even remember when asked about it. Okay. This is the Tyra Banks clip at issue from the so-called documentary SOT 44. A more difficult territory is Shandi. Okay. You remember the story was Shandi? Okay. So they show her eyes up like searching. Tyra is not happy. She's not asked about that at all. She's not happy about that at all. She's asked about Shandi a little bit more and here's more of it in SOT 45. Watch. Remember the story was Shandi? I do remember her story. It's a little difficult for me to talk about production because I'm, that's not my territory. I'm not head of story. That's Ken Mock, but I did become a master editor. It's important for people to know that we didn't put everything on TV. Okay. So the bottom line is Mark, she's claiming they made her look pretty heartless. She didn't even remember this girl. She had to search for it. Then she was kind of defensive. And in her lawsuit, Tyra claims that she was not aware that Shandi had classified what happened to her as a sexual assault. She says, had she been told that that was her perception, she would have addressed it in that context. She would have explained the seriousness with which she treats such issues. And then she would have stopped the interview. Then she claims that she didn't actually look up and search to remember who Shandi was. She says the implication is devastating and deliberate that Tyra cannot even remember the story of the woman who was assaulted, but that was false. The full footage she alleges is that the interview reveals two things that the producers cut out and didn't want the viewers to see. Before the upward glance, she nods affirmatively and unmistakably and immediately says, I do remember her story. By carving out the nod in 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. Yeah, that's what they do. I like this lawsuit for a lot of reasons. I think that if what she's alleging can be proven, then she's meet the elements and she deserves to be compensated. They dramatically affected her brand and she should be compensated, but it highlights a bigger problem. We're all watching these documentaries thinking erroneously that they're being factually accurate. The best example recently was the crash. Most of us saw that. They intentionally left out what was tantamount to an admission while she's laying in the hospital asking her mom, should we say this? Should we allege this? Had they shown that in that documentary, we all would have said this isn't a close call. This girl did what's being alleged. So they're doing it. It's a big problem. And whether she wins and ultimately gets a settlement out of it, Banks is causing Netflix and others to make sure that they get it right and stop being so creative in their editing. I have to tell you from a journalistic perspective, you would never do this. Never, never. Any ethical journalist would know that is totally unfair to our witness here, to our interviewee. You must, you must include that context that she just offered where she says, I do remember her. And she quickly acknowledges her rather than making it look like she is searching. Katie Couric did this to a bunch of people on that gun story, Andrew. And that's right. I do very well. She asked them a question about some gun control issue. And then the camera pans to the panel and the panel is just clueless for nine seconds. They're not saying anything to suggest they didn't have a response to the question. That was not their response. That was clipped in from another portion of the video just to make them look hapless. The difference there, however, is that those panelists, they knew they were going into a hostile environment, so they made their own recording so they could contest it. My understanding here is Tyra Banks does not, in fact, have her own recording of this interview. No, because we don't have that to show you. Right? It's terrible. Or we'd be showing it to you right now. So learn a lesson, folks. She shouldn't have trusted them. If you're being interviewed by the media, make your own recording. So she did trust them. And honestly, I mean, I stand corrected. Obviously, a journalist would do this because Katie Couric did it, and some others have done it. Look at 60 Minutes, what it's been doing. However, no ethical journalist would do this. Trust me, I've been in enough edit bays over the years where we're making decisions about what stays in and what comes out. In my experience, the producers, the editors, and the reporters on most stories understand there's an ethical obligation not to bastardize your witness, your interviewee. And even if you can't stand them, I mean, you've got to be fair to them. You've got to make sure their defense or their context that they've offered is in there. Here's the second one. It's also interesting. There was a guy in the show named Miss J. Alexander. That's what he went by, Miss J. Alexander. He was obviously a flamboyantly gay man, but he was a major part of the show. He apparently wound up having a stroke. And they aired the following exchange with Tyra about Miss J's stroke, SOT 46. Did Tyra come and visit you? No, not yet. She just sent me a text that she wants to come and visit me, but no, not yet. About Tyra, it was Miss J there saying she didn't come to visit him. Even though this guy had a stroke, it's so sad. Tyra's a bitch. That's clearly what they're going for. She alleges the following. She says perhaps the most hurtful example of their deception involved Miss J. Alexander. Had the producers informed Miss Banks of that part of the Netflix series and that it would include Miss J saying Banks never visited him in the hospital, Banks would have explained that she'd been living in Australia for two and a half years. She would have shared the text revealing that on a New York trip, she did reach out to Miss J to say she wanted to see him, but he never responded. She would have shown lengthy text chains that she was a part of where the show's crew, America's Next Top Model crew and cast members were all trying to figure out how to locate Miss J soon 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. Then she says she goes on with an example of Banks reaching out to a family member of Miss J saying 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 Tyra's texts and multiple calls sooner due to her being focused on getting him better. Banks would have explained that after that contact, she and Miss J spent three years communicating. They spoke live on the phone at least once. They exchanged voice notes, many photos, video messages. They texted numerous times. As recently as Christmas Day 2025, Banks and Miss J exchanged holiday messages and he updated her about his improved health. She replied, they never did speak. Just weeks later, the Netflix series streamed to a worldwide audience. She has every reason to be pissed off. I'd be livid. So would you. They're essentially calling you insensitive. They're hurting her brand. But you keep referring to them as journalists. I look at them now as entertainers and they're acting like they're journalists. They're not. So if we just now now look at everything through that lens, every documentary that you see on any of these streaming platforms, look at it as entertainment. It's not necessarily factually based. And in truth, it's just not. I just to be clear, I was not referring to the Netflix documentarians as journalists. I was just saying no ethical journalist. And that's our business is interviewing people and putting them on would do this. So their standards are clearly very different from those that exist in the journalism profession, even if they're not always upheld. Andrew, does she have a claim, a legal claim for defamation? Oh, absolutely. I mean, this this is beyond what's required for actual malice. I mean, mere reckless disregard of the truth would be enough. They're actually fabricating the lie here themselves affirmatively by clipping these things together to represent a narrative that's they know is not true. And they're doing it for self-serving purposes to make money, to get more clicks and views. If the only way to check this kind of behavior is to hold these people accountable and hit them in the checkbook for large sums of money, then maybe the next time someone's doing a documentary like that, there'll be a check on it. But as long as there's only upside and not downside for these people, they'll keep doing this relentlessly. By becoming a subscriber, we really, really value your input and your support. We may not always agree, but we are always going to talk about it and respect. No BS, no agenda, no fear. Think about this. In 2006, $20,000 equaled roughly 33 ounces of gold at spot price. At today's prices, those 33 ounces would be worth about $165,000. That's why many smart Americans diversify a portion of their savings into precious metals. And that's why you should consider buying gold from Birch Gold Group. For thousands of years, gold has been a store of wealth. And today it's a crucial part of any balance strategy. Even better, Birch Gold can help you convert an existing IRA or 401k into a tax-sheltered retirement account in gold. Just text MK to the number 989898 to receive your free info kit on gold. There's no obligation, just useful information. With an A-plus rating with the Better Business Bureau and tens of thousands of happy customers, let Birch Gold help you diversify with gold. Now that's peace of mind. Again, text MK to 989898 today.