Netflix (NFLX) has built some of its biggest streaming conversations around stories audiences thought they already knew.
That has made documentaries and docuseries especially valuable for the company. They can turn old scandals, celebrity careers, and pop-culture moments into new viewing events years after the original headlines faded.
But when a streamer revisits the past, they also get to shape how millions of viewers see it now.
That power is at the center of a new legal fight involving one of reality television’s most recognizable names.
Tyra Banks says Netflix used 16 minutes of 3hr interview
Tyra Banks, the creator and longtime host of America’s Next Top Model, is suing Netflix and several producers behind Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model, a docuseries that revisits the show’s legacy and controversies.
The docuseries was released on Netflix on February 16, 2026.
Banks filed the lawsuit on June 13 in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
Court documents accessed by TheStreet show Banks is suing Netflix Worldwide Entertainment, Netflix Music, 89 Blocks Holdings doing business as EverWonder Studio, directors Mor Loushy and Daniel Sivan, and related defendants.
Banks brings claims including false light, defamation by implication, breach of contract, and false endorsement under the Lanham Act.
The docket reviewed by TheStreet shows Netflix Worldwide Entertainment and Netflix Music were served on June 16.
Their responses are due July 7.
Banks claims she participated in the docuseries because she believed it would offer viewers a candid discussion of America’s Next Top Model, including both its cultural impact and its shortcomings.
The complaint says Banks sat for a three-and-a-half-hour interview and did not limit what topics could be asked.
She alleges the final series used only about 16 minutes of her answers.
The complaint says the producers used that footage to create a “false and defamatory narrative” and calls the result a “complete fabrication.”
The allegations have not yet been tested in court.
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