In a significant legal development, Fiona Harvey has filed a lawsuit against Netflix, alleging that the streaming giant defamed her in their hit series “Baby Reindeer.” Harvey claims she is the real-life inspiration behind the character Martha, portrayed by Jessica Gunning, depicted as a dangerous and deranged stalker.
The lawsuit, lodged in a California federal court on Thursday, accuses Netflix of defaming Harvey by depicting her as a twice-convicted stalker who served five years in prison for sexual assault. Harvey asserts that these portrayals are entirely fabricated. “The streamer and showrunners told these lies, and never stopped, because it was a better story than the truth, and better stories made money,” the complaint states.
Harvey is chasing at least $120 million in damages, eyeing the profits Netflix pocketed from the series. The lawsuit dishes out claims of defamation, negligence, and right of publicity violations.
A Netflix spokesperson shot back, “We plan to defend this matter fiercely and uphold Richard Gadd’s right to share his tale.”
“Baby Reindeer” spins the yarn of Donny Dunn, a struggling comedian played by Richard Gadd, who finds himself relentlessly hounded by Martha after a random bar encounter. Over the years, Martha floods Dunn with over 41,000 emails, 744 tweets, 100 pages of letters, and 350 hours of voicemails.
Harvey’s lawsuit argues Netflix dropped the ball in verifying the accuracy of the series’ statements. “It never investigated whether Harvey was convicted, a very serious misrepresentation of the facts,” the complaint states. “It did nothing to understand the relationship between Gadd and Harvey, if any. It did nothing to determine whether other facts, including an assault, the alleged stalking, or the conviction was accurate.”
In the series, Martha is depicted as a convicted criminal who spent five years in prison for stalking Gadd and another woman. She is also shown stalking a policeman and sexually assaulting Gadd. Harvey, however, staunchly denies ever being convicted of any crime and asserts she never stalked or assaulted Gadd, whether physically or sexually.
A quirky twist in the case is that Harvey’s real name isn’t used in the series, potentially muddling her defamation claims. Legal wizards suggest this could be a big bump for Harvey to clear in proving her point.
The filing of Harvey’s complaint comes hot on the heels of another big defamation dust-up involving Netflix. The streaming giant recently settled a lawsuit with Linda Fairstein, a former prosecutor who took issue with her portrayal in “When They See Us.” As part of the deal, Netflix agreed to shift a disclaimer from the end credits to the beginning of each episode, clarifying the dramatized nature of the show.
This lawsuit against Netflix stirs up big questions about the duty of entertainment companies to truthfully depict real-life events and folks. As Harvey’s case rolls forward, it’s likely to spotlight the tug-of-war between creative storytelling and factual accuracy in the entertainment world.
