‘Baby Reindeer’s Richard Gadd Addresses Impact Of Series’ In Wake Of Defamation Lawsuit: “It’s Touched The Lives Of So Many People”

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September 15, 2024 8:45pm

Richard Gadd accepts the Outstanding Writing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie award for 'Baby Reindeer' onstage during the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards

A defamation suit may be looming and there are still lingering questions over what should or shouldn’t constitute a “true story” for TV, but a jubilant Richard Gadd preferred to focus on the good that his semi-autobiographical show Baby Reindeer has brought to the world.

“It’s easier in this day and age to focus on the negatives,” Gadd told the press after winning his third Emmy for Baby Reindeer. During Sunday’s Primetime Emmys, the limited series took home Emmys for Best Series, Writing, Actor (Gadd) & Actress (Jessica Gunning).

“I think what you have to look at is what Baby Reindeer has done globally,” Gadd said about the show, which tells the chilling story of the abuse and stalking Gadd faced when he was an aspiring comedian in his 20s. “I mean, how many [homes] have watched it worldwide? It’s something like 80 million. At Netflix, it’s like 20 million who have watched this show. It’s touched the lives of so many people. For charities in the UK, there has been an 80 percent increase [in donations] for sexual abuse charities, 53 percent of which cite Baby Reindeer. But nobody seems to be talking about that. The show has done some phenomenal things worldwide for so many people, I’ll stand by that.”

Last week, a federal judge set a May 6 start date for the $170 million defamation lawsuit against Netflix over Baby Reindeer. The lawsuit by Gaad’s real-life stalker Fiona Harvey, who was partially the inspiration for the series’ character Martha Scott, was filed on June 6 (read it here).

In Baby Reindeer, the stalker was imprisoned although the woman involved said she received no conviction. Nevertheless, the show had a “true story” label attached to it.

The “continuing debate” about its authenticity has exhausted Netflix Chief Ted Sarandos, who recently told The Times of London newspaper that it “was no one’s intent to use a label recklessly” to describe Baby Reindeer. “That is Richard’s true story. The fact that you’re watching on television says that parts of it were certainly fictionalised and dramatised.”

He added that he was “proud of the show and the way Richard handled the story.”