Netflix is embroiled in a desperate push to win “Baby Reindeer” an Emmy — and is vowing to fight a $170 million lawsuit over the hit series.
The streamer has flown show creator and star Richard Gadd and co-star Jessica Gunning over to the US from the UK for a softball-question promotional tour.
The co-stars made their US morning TV debut on the “Today” show last week, when they were interviewed by Hoda Kotb and made no mention of the real-life drama that has been bubbling up behind the scenes.
That same day, the two took part in a SAG-AFTRA panel. But hours later. Fiona Harvey — the woman who has come forward to allege that Gadd based his on-screen stalker on her — filed her long-promised suit in Los Angeles federal court.
The suit accuses Netflix of “defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, gross negligence, and violations of Harvey’s right of publicity rising out of the brutal lies defendants told about her in the television series, ‘Baby Reindeer.'”
Netflix broke its silence Monday, and told The Post, “We intend to defend this matter vigorously and to stand by Richard Gadd’s right to tell his story.”
Meanwhile, industry sources told The Post that “Baby Reindeer” is already viewed as a hot favorite to win limited series at the Emmys in September, with Gunning and Gadd expected to earn acting nods when nominations are announced June 17.
Nomination voting begins Thursday.
On Monday, the show led the 2024 Television Critics Association awards nomination with five nods, alongside Netflix drama “Ripley” and the FX series “Shōgun.”
It also won breakthrough limited series at the Gotham TV Awards last week.
The stars were also guests on the “Tonight Show” with Jimmy Fallon on Thursday, where there was no mention of the legal issues.
Netflix also used its powerful social media accounts — the streamers has 33 million followers on Instagram and 22.5 million on X — to post Gunning’s audition tape for the show Friday
Gadd, 35, turned his hit Edinburgh Festival show into the hit Netflix black comedy, which reached No. 1 on the streamer’s charts around the globe after premiering in April.
Gunning, 38, plays Martha, the woman turns his life into a nightmare.
Gadd said of the real woman who inspired Martha: “We’ve gone to such great lengths to disguise her to the point that I don’t think she would recognize herself.”
However, the character was middle-aged, overweight, Scottish and a trained lawyer — like Harvey herself — and it did not take viewers long to track her down.
“Martha’s accent, manner of speaking and cadence, is indistinguishable [from] Harvey’s,” the lawsuit claims.
It also did not take long for Harvey to come forward.
In an interview with Piers Morgan on his YouTube show last month, she denied sending Gadd 41,000 emails and 100 letters.
“I think he probably made them up himself,” Harvey alleged, instead suggesting she sent him just “a handful.” When pressed by Morgan for a number, she said she sent Gadd “less than 10 emails.”
She claimed she had only met the comedian a few times and asked him to “leave her alone.”
Harvey’s lawsuit, filed by the Roth Law Firm, claims that the statement “this is a true story” that airs at the beginning of each episode of “Baby Reindeer” is “a lie” told by both Netflix and Gadd “out of greed and lust for fame.”
“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 34-page complaint added.
“As a result of Defendants’ lies, malfeasance and utterly reckless misconduct, Harvey’s life had been ruined.”
Gadd himself isn’t named in the suit.
Marketing expert Mark Borokowski, however, told The Post that the lawsuit won’t affect the Emmy chances for “Baby Reindeer.”
“It’s business as usual for the show,” he said. “If Netflix did withdraw the promo that might be some kind of admission …They could win loads of awards and milk it, then perhaps do a deal with the complainant. It’s a bold, confident strategy nevertheless.”
