A woman who says she is the inspiration for the relentless stalker at the center of Netflix’s “Baby Reindeer” sued the streaming giant on Thursday for defamation and is seeking at least $170 million in damages.
Fiona Harvey, a Scottish lawyer living in England who claims that the character Martha in the widely seen limited series is clearly based on her, filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles federal court that also alleges that Netflix was negligent, intentionally subjecting her to to emotional distress and violated his right to publicity.
In the British black comedy based on a one-man show by Richard Gadd. Gadd plays a doppelganger called Donny Dunn, who at his day job at a pub gives Martha, a quick to laugh customer, a free cup of tea. She eventually becomes a stalker who sends him tens of thousands of emails, tweets hundreds of times, breaks a bottle over his head and gouges out his eyes, sexually assaults him, and is eventually arrested and sent to prison.
None of this actually happened, according to the lawsuit.
“The lies Defendants told about Harvey to more than 50 million people around the world include that Harvey is a twice-convicted stalker sentenced to five years in prison and that Harvey sexually assaulted Gadd,” the lawsuit says. “The defendants told these lies and never stopped, because it was a better story than the truth, and better stories made money.”
Harvey also never chased a police officer, as Gadd’s character discovers on the show, the suit says.
Netflix responded with a statement saying, “We intend to defend this matter vigorously and defend Richard Gadd’s right to tell his story.”
The lawsuit alleges that the streamer did nothing to determine whether the stalking, assault and convictions were accurate, nor did anything to understand the actual relationship between Harvey and Gadd.
“Netflix and Gadd destroyed his reputation, his character and his life,” the lawsuit says.
Gadd is not named as a defendant, but emails sent seeking comment from attorneys representing him were not immediately returned.
The show debuted on Netflix in April, and Harvey came forward publicly and gave an interview with journalist Piers Morgan about a month later. But the suit says British viewers and media outlets identified her long before that and have tormented her constantly since then.
This was possible, the lawsuit says, because on the show Martha creates social media posts identical to Harvey’s searchable posts, including one in which she says, “my curtains need to be hung tight,” which is used as a euphemism sexual in the program.
The lawsuit also alleges that Harvey bears an “uncanny resemblance” to Martha, saying her “accent, manner of speaking and cadence” are “indistinguishable.”
The lawsuit says the series’ claim at the beginning of its first episode that it is a true story is “the biggest lie in the history of television” and that the defamation of Harvey is “on an unprecedented magnitude and scale.”
Harvey is seeking all profits from “Baby Reindeer” and is asking for punitive and other damages that would total at least $170 million.
This story originally appeared on ABCNews.go.com read the full story
