Woman Claims Netflix Show Baby Reindeer Defamed Her, Seeks $170M

A Scottish woman named Fiona Harvey filed a lawsuit against Netflix for their recently released miniseries Baby Reindeer. Harvey claims that the stalker character in the series named Martha is inspired by her. In the lawsuit she also claims that the Netflix production made a series based on “ brutal lies “that is different from her real life personality. She says that she wasn’t a convicted criminal and this is falsely portrayed in the series.

Harvey is suing the popular streaming platform for defamation, negligence and privacy violations in the lawsuit. She wants $170m dollars as compensation for the false portrayal for her in the series. The responses from the steaming platform’s side says that they vow to vigorously defend against this lawsuit. 

The show employs conflicting disclaimers. At the beginning, it claims to be “based on a true story,” while the ending disclaimer states it’s inspired by “true events.”. The series attempts to establish a connection to real life through disclaimers. However, these disclaimers contradict each other.The creator of the series Richard Grad says that this series is based on real life incidents on how he was stalked by a woman at a pub where he worked.

Last month,Netflix defended the controversial series “Baby Reindeer” during a parliamentary hearing. Benjamin King, a senior public policy director at Netflix, argued the show depicts the true experiences of writer and lead actor Richard Gadd, who faced harassment from a stalker. But on the other hand , Harvey states that Netflix doesn’t have any proof to show that Grad’s story is true. Whereas Harveys lawyer Richard Roth has evidence from a documentary to prove the fact that she wasn’t ever accused of a crime. 

Harvey also confirms the fact that she knows Mr Grad when he was working in the pub but has denied stalking him as shown in the series.However, the lawsuit alleges the show incorporates some of Harvey’s actual conversations with Mr. Gadd, including a tweet sent in 2014.

Photo credit : Netflix 

The lawsuits that Netflix faced previously

This is not the first time Netflix is getting sued for their series , earlier Queen’s gambit series was sued by a female grandmaster chess player. Netflix had to settle the lawsuit by paying about 5 million to Georgian chess master Nona Gaprindashvili.She claims that the series portrayed her character to be sexist and belittling.  

Netflix was also sued by a vanity fair staffer on the portrayal of Inventing Anna. Vanity Fair photo editor Rachel Williams filed a lawsuit against the streaming platform for defamation.

In another move aimed at resolving the controversy, Netflix reached a settlement on Tuesday with Linda Fairstein, a former Manhattan prosecutor, who sued them over her depiction in the 2019 miniseries “When They See Us.” The portrayal reportedly damaged her reputation and led to her being dropped by publishers. The streaming platform had to pay $i million dollars for settling the lawsuit. 

What is the Baby reindeer series about ?

Baby reindeer is a Black Comedy-Thriller mini series released on netflix on 11th April 2024.This show is written and created by Richard Grad and directed by Weronika Tofilska and Josephine Bornebusch. This is a miniseries of 7 episodes lasting for about 45 minutes.The main actors of the series include Richard Grad as Donny Dunn and Jessica Gunning as Martha.

The storyline of the series revolves around how an aspiring comedian Donny gets irresistibly stalked by a woman who he met in the pub where he works. Later he reports to the police against Martha for stalking him. The filming of the series started in August 2022. The themes discussed in the series are quite dark that includes stalking and sexual assault. This series has also received critical acclaim after its release.