{"id":28690,"date":"2024-05-09T21:44:24","date_gmt":"2024-05-10T01:44:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/entertainment\/woman-who-says-she-inspired-baby-reindeer-character-denies-stalking\/09\/05\/2024\/"},"modified":"2024-05-09T21:44:24","modified_gmt":"2024-05-10T01:44:24","slug":"woman-who-says-she-inspired-baby-reindeer-character-denies-stalking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/entertainment\/woman-who-says-she-inspired-baby-reindeer-character-denies-stalking\/09\/05\/2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman Who Says She Inspired \u2018Baby Reindeer\u2019 Character Denies Stalking"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As the surprise success of <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/05\/02\/arts\/television\/baby-reindeer-true-story.html\" title=\"\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">\u201cBaby Reindeer,\u201d the Netflix drama<\/a> about a comedian and his stalker, has highlighted the complications that can arise from basing a popular series on real events, a woman who claims to be the inspiration for the stalker character said on Thursday that much of the show\u2019s plot was untrue, calling it a \u201cwork of fiction.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In the four weeks since \u201cBaby Reindeer\u201d debuted, it has been viewed more than 56 million times, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.netflix.com\/tudum\/top10\/tv\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">according to data released by Netflix<\/a>. The intense interest in the seven-episode series, which is billed as a true story based on the experience of the comedian Richard Gadd, has also spawned an army of amateur detectives trying to uncover the actual identities of the characters onscreen.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Those efforts have resulted in the online abuse of a British writer and director as well as blowback for Netflix officials, one of whom was <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/parliamentlive.tv\/event\/index\/6fba870f-84fa-4bc5-a25c-7373979e4cca\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">questioned about the streamer\u2019s \u201cduty of care\u201d<\/a> by a British lawmaker this week. Gadd has all but begged internet sleuths to stop digging, writing on social media: \u201cPlease don\u2019t speculate on who any of the real life people could be. That\u2019s not the point of the show.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But in an interview that ran Thursday, Fiona Harvey, who says that the show\u2019s stalker character was modeled after her, provided her side of the story on camera for the first time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In \u201cBaby Reindeer,\u201d a woman named Martha (Jessica Gunning) approaches an aspiring comedian, Donny (Gadd), while he is working as a bartender and eventually torments him through emails and voice mail messages.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In an hourlong interview on YouTube with the television personality Piers Morgan, Harvey said she had not watched the series \u2014 \u201cI think I\u2019d be sick,\u201d she said \u2014 but had become aware of her connection to it after reading news media reports and being contacted by journalists. Certain details in the show had convinced some viewers that Harvey was the inspiration for Martha.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe internet sleuths tracked me down and hounded me and gave me death threats so it wasn\u2019t really a choice,\u201d Harvey, 58, said. \u201cI was forced into this situation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In the interview, she criticized Gadd, asserting that he had sought to publicly persecute her. And although she acknowledged that some aspects of the show, like its title, could be traced to her, she disputed other details, including that she had sent Gadd thousands of emails and left him hundreds of hours of voice messages. Harvey said she had sent Gadd a \u201chandful\u201d of emails, along with about 18 tweets.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Harvey told Morgan that she once had up to six email addresses and four phones, which she said she used for different people and purposes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A spokeswoman for Netflix and representatives for Gadd did not immediately respond to requests for comment. <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gq-magazine.co.uk\/article\/baby-reindeer-netflix-richard-gadd-interview\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">In an interview with British GQ<\/a> that published in April, Gadd said he believed that his team had \u201cgone to such great lengths to disguise\u201d the real identity of the Martha character that he did not \u201cthink she would recognize herself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The series depicts Martha assaulting Donny and pleading guilty to stalking him. But in her interview, Harvey denied assaulting him and denied ever having been jailed or convicted of a crime. <\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Early in the first episode of \u201cBaby Reindeer,\u201d a message comes onscreen that says, \u201cThis is a true story.\u201d In the show\u2019s credits, it states: \u201cThis program is based on real events: however certain characters, names, incidents, locations, and dialogue have been fictionalized for dramatic purposes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The New York Times has not independently verified Harvey\u2019s account or the events depicted in the series.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Harvey\u2019s interview came after concern that some \u201cBaby Reindeer\u201d viewers had gone too far in trying to unmask the real identities of the characters.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Sean Foley, a British writer and director, became a target of threats and abuse after some viewers speculated that he was the inspiration for a character named Darrien, who drugs, assaults and rapes Gadd\u2019s character.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\"><a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SeanFoleyJ\/status\/1782655837489492126\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Foley said on social media<\/a> that the police were investigating the \u201cdefamatory abusive and threatening\u201d posts he faced online. Gadd defended Foley, writing on social media that people he loved and admired were \u201cunfairly getting caught up in speculation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In a Parliamentary committee hearing on Wednesday, a British lawmaker asked a Netflix official, Benjamin King, how the series had affected the person who inspired the Martha character.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe did take every reasonable precaution in disguising the real-life identities of the people involved in that story,\u201d King said, while \u201cstriking a balance with the veracity and authenticity of Richard\u2019s story.\u201d He said that making it too generic \u201cwould undermine the intent behind the show.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">King added that it was difficult to control the actions of viewers and social media users and that Netflix was following the situation very closely. He declined to say whether it had contacted the person who was the inspiration for Martha or offered her support.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/05\/09\/arts\/television\/baby-reindeer-fiona-harvey-stalking.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As the surprise success of &ldquo;Baby Reindeer,&rdquo; the Netflix drama about a comedian and his stalker, has highlighted the complications that can<br \/><button class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/entertainment\/woman-who-says-she-inspired-baby-reindeer-character-denies-stalking\/09\/05\/2024\/\">Read More &rsaquo;<\/a><\/button><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28692,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28690"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28690\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}