Former America’s Next Top Model alums are making their voices heard after Tyra Banks filed a bombshell defamation lawsuit against Netflix.
Banks claimed that the streamer’s docuseries Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model, which premiered on February 16, didn’t give an accurate depiction of her comments, as she claims only 16 minutes of her three-and-a-half hour interview were allegedly used.
Per her June 13 filing obtained by People at the time, she said the doc was “stripped of context and reassembled to support a false and defamatory narrative unrelated to what she actually expressed.”
‘ANTM’ Winner Adrianne Curry Slams Docuseries ‘Psychoanalyzing’ Tyra Banks’ Show
The former Victoria’s Secret Angel noted that she agreed to appear in the three-part docuseries “because she believed viewers deserved a candid conversation about the show’s legacy,” including its “successes and its shortcomings” after a 24-season run.
According to her lawsuit, there are aspects of the show for which she “takes accountability and she wanted ANTM viewers to hear that from her directly.”
Banks argued that instead of giving the full picture, producers fueled negative perceptions of her role on the show through “selective editing, deliberate omission, and surgical manipulation of continuous footage,” insinuating that she “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.” She is seeking a jury trial and unspecified damages.
Here’s what ANTM alums have said in response to her explosive legal filing:
Jeana Turner
The season 24 contestant and runner-up exclusively told Us Weekly that she felt it was “very ironic” that Banks complained about “being edited falsely” in an exclusive statement on June 15.
“I feel like it’s a selfish, money-hungry thing,” Turner told Us. “It’s also extremely ironic of her to be suing them for defamation when that is what all of the girls who have been speaking out about America’s Next Top Model have been trying to point out is that we have been defamed, our lives were affected, our careers were affected — ultimately, it was defamation.”
Turner called out Banks’ alleged “lack of accountability,” telling Us, “For years, former contestants have shared their experiences and concerns, and many of them felt dismissed.”
She added in part, “I think people are capable of being both influential and harmed by a system, but accountability shouldn’t disappear when the spotlight turns on the person who was previously in charge.”
Adrianne Curry
The season 1 winner sounded off via Instagram on June 14.
“I read that Tyra Banks is suing Netflix because she didn’t like being edited,” Curry said in a video, with a loud laugh at the end. “Biiiiiiiiiiiitch, for real girl? Like?”
“Trya doesn’t like being ‘edited,’” she captioned the post. “Lol. Welcome to the party, pal.”
‘America’s Next Top Model’ Contestants React to Shocking Netflix Doc
Angelea Preston
The season 17 contestant addressed Banks’ lawsuit during a phone interview with Entertainment Weekly on June 14, drawing reference to the “surgical manipulation” and “selective editing” portion of her legal complaint, stating, “Now you know how we feel.”
Preston notably filed a since-dropped lawsuit against ANTM in 2014 for $3 million.
She added, “It’s kind of like a taste of your own medicine, in a way.”
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