Netflix Faces $170M Lawsuit Over ‘Baby Reindeer’ True Story Claims

Based on Richard Gadd’s autobiographical one-man show, Baby Reindeer is a British black comedy-drama-thriller television miniseries. Gadd created and starred in the series. Tom Goodman-Hill, Nava Mau, Jessica Gunning, and Josephine Bornebusch, among others, helm the film. On April 11, 2024, all seven of the series’ episodes simultaneously debuted on Netflix. It was well-received by critics and has garnered a sizable following on the platform.

Nobody could have guessed at the beginning of the year that Baby Reindeer, a British drama from an unknown creator, would turn out to be the most influential TV show of our time. However, it appears more and more likely that this will be the case.

Baby Reindeer has taken the internet by storm ever since a small group of intrepid researchers watched the show, saw that it was touted as “a true story,” and made an effort to identify the real-life inspiration for one of its characters. They discovered Fiona Harvey, a lady whose social media posts closely mirrored the conversation of the character Martha, the one who stalks the main character, in addition to fitting the physical description of the character. Harvey made a defamation and gross negligence threat against Netflix when he appeared on Piers Morgan’s YouTube channel.

That finally happened yesterday. Harvey has sued Netflix for $170 million (£133 million) in California, claiming that the streaming service violated her right to publicity, intentionally caused her emotional pain, and was negligent. In addition to “all profits from Baby Reindeer,” the amount also includes totals for damages, “loss of enjoyment and loss of business.” According to Netflix, it will “strategically defend this matter and stand by Richard Gadd’s right to tell his story.” The whole television industry will be closely monitoring the Fiona Harvey baby reindeer outcome.

The Fiona Harvey baby reindeer outcome of the lawsuit may have long-term effects on how television is produced. Everyone seems to agree that Netflix could have avoided this problem with just two words. Baby Reindeer markets itself as “a true story” from the very beginning of the series, a move that becomes more and more rash as time passes. Someone who was in charge of the show’s production and distribution would have had a lot more cover if they had thought to include the phrase “based on” in that description.

There is a vast disparity. “Based on a true story” indicates that although the authors have chosen to alter events for dramatic effect, there may be a hint of real-life inspiration in the story. For example, Winning Time on HBO created a lot of controversy when it debuted. A drama portraying the ascent of the Los Angeles Lakers basketball club, it wildly departed from the truth to the point where coaches and players openly expressed their displeasure with their representation. It is, however, protected by the disclaimer at the top, which states, “This series is a dramatisation of certain facts and events.” In a statement, HBO noted that it has a track record of producing television programmes that are “drawn from facts and events that are fictionalised in part for dramatic purposes,” and the ruckus disappeared.

However, Fiona Harvey baby reindeer’s opening statement just states, “This is a true story.” One may contend that this suggests it’s a documentary. However, Baby Reindeer concludes with Harvey denying that Martha was ever imprisoned. There could be a tonne of comparable anomalies in the series. And all might have gone well, if not for the blatant and, to put it mildly, misleading claim that “this is a true story.” Thus, shortly, you should anticipate a lot more disclaimers at the beginning of TV broadcasts, regardless of Harvey’s decision. It might not even be sufficient to say that a show was inspired by actual occurrences. If lengthy text tracts describing all the ways the original material has been fictionalised start to appear, don’t be alarmed. Though it may also be required by law, it will be a huge buzzkill.

Anyone penning a show largely based on their own life experience is going to go to great lengths to distort the truth, you can bet. Although Baby Reindeer may have given Harvey a different name, it nevertheless mimicked her appearance, dialect, age, place of residence and some of her speech. She was considerably simpler to recognise as a result. In the future, authors should anticipate taking considerably greater care to conceal their inspiration to protect themselves.

The case may completely reshape television. We are currently inundated with biopics featuring living individuals. The Crown, Dopesick, The Dropout, WeCrashed, Super Pumped, Inventing Anna, and a host of other shows have been on our radar in recent years. For better or worse, celebrities from these shows may begin to sue on their own behalf, claiming that the shows have damaged their reputations.

It’s something that occurs more frequently. When a female chess grandmaster sued Netflix in 2022 over Queen’s Gambit, the streaming service was forced to make a settlement. A Vanity Fair photo editor is using it right now for how she was portrayed in Inventing Anna. Additionally, Netflix said on Tuesday that it has resolved a defamation lawsuit brought by Linda Fairstein, a former Manhattan prosecutor after her publishers rejected her due to her negative portrayal in the 2019 miniseries When They See Us. The $1 million settlement cost Netflix. It might lose millions more to Harvey’s lawsuit. Therefore, it shouldn’t come as a surprise if broadcasters quickly determine that the truth is too costly and return to the realm of pure fiction.