Overview
- Banks filed a federal complaint in California on Saturday, June 13, accusing Netflix and the series' producers and co-directors of false light, defamation by implication, breach of contract and false endorsement.
- The suit says Banks gave roughly a three-and-a-half-hour interview that was reduced to about 16 minutes and that producers 'stripped of context' and rearranged footage to build a false narrative about her actions on America’s Next Top Model.
- A central example in the complaint focuses on former contestant Shandi Sullivan, where Banks alleges producers withheld that Sullivan described the incident as an assault and edited Banks’ answers to make her appear to not remember the episode.
- The filing also disputes the series' portrayal of Banks’ relationship with judge J. Alexander, claims she escalated on-set misconduct to executives, and says omitted footage and communications would have shown a different picture.
- Banks is seeking a jury trial and unspecified damages for reputational and business harm, and the lawsuit could prompt discovery of raw interview footage and production materials that test how streamers label and edit documentary projects.