‘Baby Ren’ and the History of Emmy Controversies

With 11 Emmy nominations, including one for Outstanding Limited Series or Anthology Series, and ratings in the top 10 of all time in the US, Reindeer baby proved a massive success for Netflix.

Richard Gadd’s dramatic thriller — about a woman named Martha (Jessica Gunning) who stalks Gadd’s bartender character Donny — claims in a blurb that it’s “a true story” based on Gadd’s experience.

But a defamation lawsuit filed in June by real-life Martha Fiona Harvey claims that Reindeer baby it is not as true as claimed. Unlike Martha, Harvey never went to jail for stalking Gadd and was never convicted of a crime. “(Gadd) is making money off my misery,” she told Piers Morgan. “He’s the ultimate misogynist.”

The case led to a legal back-and-forth, with Gadd admitting in filings that the series “is fictional and not intended to depict actual facts,” and Netflix filed a motion claiming that the defamatory statements in question are “in substantially true”. .” All of that may have complicated the Emmy outlook for the critically-acclaimed series, which had looked like a strong favorite after the nominations.

Reached by email, Harvey’s attorney, Richard Roth, said “it is clear that Netflix, in its quest to increase revenue and win awards, including the Emmys, has sacrificed truth and transparency for profits … the series would not never achieved the popularity and acclaim it now has. Netflix was honest.”

A Netflix spokeswoman pointed to the motion to dismiss filed by attorney Marvin Putnam, which said, in part, “Harvey harassed and stalked Gadd in real life. She sent him thousands of emails, handwritten letters and social media posts and left him hours of voicemails.” She also alluded to an earlier statement that Netflix intends to “vigorously defend this matter and respect Richard Gadd’s right to tell his story.”

As it turns out, this narrative is not new. In recent years, a growing number of Emmy contenders have prompted a backlash from real-life figures as companies invest in more fact-based stories while the landscape of online detection (and reaction) becomes hotter than ever .

Here’s a look at similar contentious contenders — and the clues they’re offering as voters fill out their ballots.

Inventing Anna (2022 Emmys)

Shonda Rhimes’ Netflix series about New York high-society con artist Anna Sorokin has absorbed a lot of criticism from the former Vanity Fair photo editor Rachel DeLoache Williams for the way she was portrayed on the show – in February 2022, she called the series “con’s PR”. Ultimately, the journalist will file a defamation lawsuit against Netflix in August after the vote ends, claiming she never betrayed Sorokin the way her character does on the show and that she’s unfairly portrayed as a “snob.” “unethical” and “greedy”. Inventing Anna she was nominated for Outstanding Limited Series or Anthology and Lead Actress Emmys, but failed to win.

Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story (Emmy 2023)

Ryan Murphy’s Netflix series, which followed the crimes of the infamous killer, became a major hit for the streamer when it premiered in September 2022, creating a Reindeer baby– like a hum. But shortly after he quit, the series was pulled by the families of Dahmer’s victims. Rita Isbell, the sister of Dahmer’s victim Errol Lindsey, led the charge against the series with an essay written in September 2022 for Insider. “I feel like Netflix should have asked if it bothered us or how we felt doing it. They didn’t ask me anything. They just did.” Her cousin Eric Perry offered in a social media post that “It’s retraumatizing over and over and for what?” The show was nominated for 13 Emmys, including Outstanding Limited Series or Anthology, and won only one for Supporting Actress.

Feud: Bette and Joan (Emmy 2017)

Ryan Murphy’s FX dramatization of the rivalry between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford garnered 18 nominations, but only won two lower-profile awards, for makeup and hair, after Olivia de Havilland filed a defamation suit in June of that year. (De Havilland claimed that representing her damaged her “professional reputation for integrity, honesty, generosity, self-sacrifice and dignity.”) There’s no way of knowing what role the lawsuit played in the losses, of course, but an icon from Hollywood still coming after the show certainly didn’t help.

The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story (Emmy 2018)

It didn’t take long after Tom Rob Smith’s FX show about the famous fashion designer’s murder debuted in December 2017 for the Versace family to denounce the show. In January, the family derided it as a “work of fiction” and issued a statement saying they had not authorized the series or been consulted on its writing. However, voters overlooked the controversy and Versace would take the limited series award.

This example, at least, bodes well for fans Reindeer babywho have a strong reason to vote for the show – their heart. “I don’t think the process really takes away from how people feel about the show or the things they felt about it while watching it,” one awards specialist said in an interview.

Costume designer Salvador Pérez, voter and two-time Emmy nominee, offered another rationale in an interview with THR. “Whether it’s true or not, it doesn’t matter to me,” he said. “As storytellers, we embellish, and (Gadd) made a great story.”

This story first appeared in the Aug. 21 issue of The Hollywood Reporter. Click here to subscribe.