After getting refused by a judge in California, Netflix faces defamation lawsuit over Baby Reindeer. The Scottish woman who is accused of stalking the main creator and protagonist of the series, Richard Gadd would have to face the lawsuit for defamation filed by Fiona Harvey, the real stalker.
The judge dismissed some of the claims but has still given a green light to proceed with the filed lawsuit against Baby Reindeer, its creators, and Netflix.
(Also read: Defamation Lawsuit Against Baby Reindeer On Netflix Gets Green Light)
What is Baby Reindeer?
Baby Reindeer is Netflix’s dark and dramatic series in which a struggling comedian, Donny Dunn, played by Richard Gadd himself, is involved in a strange and eccentric relationship with Martha, played by Jessica Gunning. The role of Martha is that of the real-life Scottish woman, Fiona Harvey who used to stalk Richard Gadd in actual life.
Since Baby Reindeer is based on a true life story, in which the protagonist is the man himself who played the role, he wanted to ensure that art is way more than storytelling. Gadd clarified that he did not want to portray himself as a ‘victim’ and wanted to reflect on more of the ‘human’ experiences where humans make mistakes.
In the story, he was also involved with a transgender, which viewers have claimed to be impropriety itself. Here Gadd added, “I wanted it to be layered, and I wanted it to capture the human experience. The human experience is that people are good, but they have bits of bad and they make mistakes”.
As soon as the series was top of the “most watched” series list on Netflix, it came sooner in hot waters for facing a defamation case from Fiona Harvey, the portrayed character as Martha. Harvey filed lawsuit worth $170 million that surrounds multiple controversies regarding its content.
Details of the Lawsuit
Several media channels have now been on their toes to get updates on how Netflix faces defamation lawsuit over Baby Reindeer and Harvey’s allegations of inaccurate presentation of facts in ostensible factual drama for the production’s sake.
The key allegation of the lawsuit is the distorted, exaggerated, and fabricated information shown in the series. Harvey noted that these facts were falsified:
- Sexual assaulting Donny in an alley alone at night
- Stalking Donny and that too, 16 hours outside his home
- Being convicted twice for stalking Donny, which includes one time for stalking a policeman.
- Violent attack over Donny that involves gouging his eyes with her thumbs
Judge R. Gary Klausner, a district court judge in California, initially said that Harvey’s allegations against Netflix and Gadd were not accepted since the facts were “substantially true”. It is a common term used in defamation cases to support the facts presented by the defense party.
Although Netflix accepted that Harvey has not been jailed for five years but touching Gadd inappropriately, and that too, “without consent” is truly a fact.
Why the judge still allowed to proceed with the defamation case is also about Gadd’s unease related to his concerns over the representation of Baby Reindeer as entirely true. The misstatement of facts, like Harvey’s five years of jail and other matters, would be probed deeper when Netflix faces a defamation lawsuit in the coming days.
Impact on Netflix
The potential consequences if Netflix loses the case would not only be the payment of the fine that Harvey filed for $170 million but also an image tarnish of one of the biggest streaming platforms in the world.
When They See Us
Previously, Netflix has faced criticism over 2019’s crime drama series ‘When They See Us’ which was based on the events of the 1989 Central Park jogger case. It was an investigation into the lives and facilities of the five Black and Latino male suspects who were wrongly accused for the prosecution charges regarding rape and assault of a white woman in Central Park, New York City. The misleading facts led Netflix to trouble.
However, recently, former Manhattan prosecutor, Linda Fairsten announced they have settled with Netflix over the defamation lawsuit filed four years ago for the wrong sketching of facts about the five Black and Latino teenagers in the Central Park case.
The Crown
Similarly, another series “The Crown” on Netflix is not taken as historically correct. It faced growing criticism for having used the artistic license of the wrong portrayal of royal life and its sensitive events. It appeared to be a total work of fiction and overly dramatized sequences to cause scandal.
The maker of the series is known to be an anti-Royalist himself which gave a changed format to the events and their truthfulness. The Guardian expressed that it “borders on the exploitative” while the Telegraph called it “intrusive and clumsy”.
Although Netflix faces defamation lawsuit, been there done that before, but next what?
Whether shows based on real-life events should be held to higher legal standards?
In modern times of today, when everything is easily accessible over the internet, the right to tell a true story has its own consequences. The laws of today clearly draw a line between what stories claim to be “a true story”, “based on a true story” and “inspired by true events”. This difference certifies the extent of the damages caused by the defamation case.
These engaging dramatic fictionalizations are always under the radar by the critics and especially by those on whom the stories are based. The potentially damaging information shown in the program needs to be communicated to the viewers with utmost responsibility.
This is where defamation arises. It is generally caused when the published facts are false or altered which causes harm to the third party, according to the court law. The disclaimers are not the dispositive announcement of a show that could negate any defamation, the program’s proximity to any of the three categories mentioned above- a true story, based on a true story, or inspired by true events- certainly creates an impact on whether the show would be taken as defamatory or not.
Stay tuned for more on Netflix’s proceedings on the defamation case regarding Baby Reindeer.
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