The Baby Reindeer series has been a huge success for Netflixbut now the subscription video streaming platform has to contend with the fury of the real Marthacalled Fiona Harvey, who is suing for defamation and wants damages of $170 million.
The lawsuit was filed in the last few hours in the United States. The compensation includes actual damages suffered by the woman, valued at $50 million, compensatory damages of $50 million, profits from the show of $50 million and punitive damages of $20 million.
Richard Gadd, author and actor of the series, written based on his experiences, is not charged. So Harvey only wants to hit the platform, which she obviously can get more from.
A ruined life
The Baby Reindeer series tells the story of a struggling comedian, Donny, forced to work as a waiter in a bar, who is persecuted by Martha (played by Jessica Gunning), a woman he meets in the bar itself. According to the story, the woman sent him 41,000 emails, 744 tweets, 100 pages of letters and 350 hours of voice messages over several years. Many of these were also used in the series.
According to the complaint, however, Netflix did “literally nothing to confirm the ‘true story’ told by Gadd.” The text of the lawsuit explicitly mentions the statement “this is a true story”, which is made at the beginning of the first episode, calling it “the biggest lie in the history of television“.
The text of the lawsuit is very direct in this regard: “It is a lie told by Netflix and the show’s creator, Richard Gadd, out of greed and a lust for fame; a lie designed to attract more viewers, get more attention, to make more money and for brutally destroy the life of the plaintiff, Fiona Harveyan innocent woman defamed by Netflix and Richard Gadd to an unprecedented level.” In the text we can also read that Harvey has never received a criminal conviction, so she has a clean criminal record, unlike what is said in the series.
In reality, Harvey’s identity was never expected to come out. Gadd and Netflix had taken many precautions to avoid this. Unfortunately the public couldn’t resist and, driven by unprecedented morbidityhe organized himself on the internet to find the real Martha, finally arriving at Harvey, who has since been tormented via social media and beyond.
“Harvey’s life has been ruined. Simply, Netflix and Gadd destroyed his reputation, his person and his life.” You can read more in the lawsuit, which continues: “On popular social networks like Reddit and TikTok, thousands of users have identified and discussed Harvey as the real Martha. Identifying Harvey as ‘Martha’ was easy and took a few days. for her identity was not at all hidden.”
The woman herself was eventually revealed as the Martha of the series, even conceding interviews in which he denied the events described. “Because of Plaintiffs’ lies, wrongdoings and absolutely reckless conduct, Harvey’s life has been ruined,” the lawsuit concludes, reiterating how her life and reputation were destroyed after the series was published.
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