A woman who says she is the inspiration for the relentless stalker at the center of Netflix’s “Baby Reindeer” sued the streaming giant Thursday for defamation and is seeking at least $170 million in damages.
Fiona Harvey, a Scottish attorney living in England who says the character Martha on the widely viewed limited series is clearly based on her, filed the lawsuit in federal court in Los Angeles that also alleges that Netflix was negligent, intentionally subjected her to emotional distress and violated her right to publicity.
On the British black comedy based on a one-man stage show by Richard Gadd, Gadd plays a doppelganger named Donny Dunn, who in his day job at a pub gives Martha, a bubby, quick-to-laugh customer, a free cup of tea. She eventually becomes a stalker who sends him tens of thousands of emails, tweets at him hundreds of times, smashes a bottle over his head and gouges his eyes, sexually assaults him, and is eventually arrested and sent to prison.
None of this actually happened, according to the lawsuit.
“The lies that Defendants told about Harvey to over 50 million people worldwide include that Harvey is a twice-convicted stalker who was sentenced to five years in prison, and that Harvey sexually assaulted Gadd,” the lawsuit says. “Defendants told these lies, and never stopped, because it was a better story than the truth, and better stories made money.”
Harvey also never previously stalked a police officer, as Gadd’s character learns on the show, the lawsuit says.
Netflix responded with a statement saying, “We intend to defend this matter vigorously and to stand by Richard Gadd’s right to tell his story.”
The lawsuit alleges the streamer did nothing to determine whether the stalking, assault, and convictions were accurate, nor did it do anything to understand the actual relationship between Harvey and Gadd.
“Netflix and Gadd destroyed her reputation, her character and her life,” the suit says.
Gadd is not named as a defendant, but emails sent seeking comment from attorneys representing him were not immediately returned.
The show premiered on Netflix in April, and Harvey publicly came forward and gave an interview to journalist Piers Morgan about a month later. But the lawsuit says viewers and British media outlets had identified her well before that, and they have tormented her constantly since.
This was possible, the lawsuit says, because on the show Martha creates social media posts identical to searchable posts by Harvey, including one in which she says, “my curtains need hung badly,” which is used as a sexual euphemism on the show.
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 that the series’ claim at the beginning of its first episode that it’s a true story is “the biggest lie in television history” and that its defamation of Harvey is “at a magnitude and scale without precedent.”
Harvey is seeking all profits from “Baby Reindeer” and asks that punitive and other damages be awarded that would total at least $170 million.
Woman who says she’s the real Martha from ‘Baby Reindeer’ sues Netflix for defamation
https://arab.news/85hbw
Woman who says she’s the real Martha from ‘Baby Reindeer’ sues Netflix for defamation
Egypt reveals restored colossal statues of pharaoh in Luxor
- Amenhotep III, one of the most prominent pharaohs, ruled during the 500 years of the New Kingdom, which was the most prosperous time for ancient Egypt
LUXOR: Egypt on Sunday revealed the revamp of two colossal statues of a prominent pharaoh in the southern city of Luxor, the latest in the government’s archeological events that aim at drawing more tourists to the country.
The giant alabaster statues, known as the Colossi of Memnon, were reassembled in a renovation project that lasted about two decades. They represent Amenhotep III, who ruled ancient Egypt about 3,400 years ago.
“Today we are celebrating, actually, the finishing and the erecting of these two colossal statues,” Mohamed Ismail, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said ahead of the ceremony.
Ismail said the colossi are of great significance to Luxor, a city known for its ancient temples and other antiquities. They’re also an attempt to “revive how this funerary temple of King Amenhotep III looked like a long time ago,” Ismail said.
Amenhotep III, one of the most prominent pharaohs, ruled during the 500 years of the New Kingdom, which was the most prosperous time for ancient Egypt. The pharaoh, whose mummy is showcased at a Cairo museum, ruled between 1390–1353 BC, a peaceful period known for its prosperity and great construction, including his mortuary temple, where the Colossi of Memnon are located, and another temple, Soleb, in Nubia.
The colossi were toppled by a strong earthquake in about 1200 BC that also destroyed Amenhotep III’s funerary temple, said Ismail.
They were fragmented and partly quarried away, with their pedestals dispersed. Some of their blocks were reused in the Karnak temple, but archeologists brought them back to rebuild the colossi, according to the Antiquities Ministry.
In late 1990s, an Egyptian German mission, chaired by German Egyptologist Hourig Sourouzian, began working in the temple area, including the assembly and renovation of the colossi.
“This project has in mind … to save the last remains of a once-prestigious temple,” she said.
The statues show Amenhotep III seated with hands resting on his thighs, with their faces looking eastward toward the Nile and the rising sun. They wear the nemes headdress surmounted by the double crowns and the pleated royal kilt, which symbolizes the pharaoh’s rule.
Two other small statues on the pharaoh’s feet depict his wife, Tiye.
The colossi — 14.5 meters and 13.6 meters respectively — preside over the entrance of the king’s temple on the western bank of the Nile. The 35-hectare complex is believed to be the largest and richest temple in Egypt and is usually compared to the temple of Karnak, also in Luxor.
The colossi were hewn in Egyptian alabaster from the quarries of Hatnub, in Middle Egypt. They were fixed on large pedestals with inscriptions showing the name of the temple, as well as the quarry.
Unlike other monumental sculptures of ancient Egypt, the colossi were partly compiled with pieces sculpted separately, which were fixed into each statue’s main monolithic alabaster core, the ministry said.
Sunday’s unveiling in Luxor came just six weeks after the inauguration of the long-delayed Grand Egyptian Museum, the centerpiece of the government’s bid to boost the country’s tourism industry. The mega project is located near the famed Giza Pyramids and the Sphinx.
In recent years, the sector has started to recover after the coronavirus pandemic and amid Russia’s war on Ukraine — both countries are major sources of tourists visiting Egypt.
“This site is going to be a point of interest for years to come,” said Tourism and Antiquities Minister Sherif Fathy, who attended the unveiling ceremony. “There are always new things happening in Luxor.”
A record number of about 15.7 million tourists visited Egypt in 2024, contributing about 8 percent of the country’s GDP, according to official figures.
Fathy, the minister, has said about 18 million tourists are expected to visit the country this year, with authorities hoping for 30 million visitors annually by 2032.
