A comedian wrote a hit TV series about his real experiences with being stalked. Now, he’s asking fans of the show to stop sleuthing themselves.
“Baby Reindeer” showrunner and star Richard Gadd previously told Variety that his show, which follows a character named Donny who gets stalked, is “emotionally 100% true.” But the fictional stalker character, Martha, is not meant to resemble her real-life counterpart. In fact, Gadd told GQ that the show went to “such great lengths to disguise [his stalker] to the point that I don’t think she would recognize herself.”
Still, since the release of Netflix’s “Baby Reindeer” earlier this month, fans have spread baseless theories online, attempting to correlate the show’s depictions with real-life similarities.
Viewers have been chasing after the real-life identity of Martha, as well as the character Darrien, a TV comedy writer who sexually assaults Gadd’s character. Fans online began to accuse Sean Foley, a British actor, writer and director, of being real-life Darrien, without any evidence.
On Monday, Gadd posted a statement on his Instagram story asking fans to pull back on their unsubstantiated guesswork.
“People I love, have worked with, and admire (including Sean Foley) are unfairly getting caught up in speculation,” Gadd wrote. “Please don’t speculate on who any of the real-life people could be. That’s not the point of our show.”
Representatives for Gadd, Netflix and Foley did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
Gadd’s Instagram story comes amid increased attention surrounding the show and fan impulse to “armchair sleuth.” Experts have previously told NBC News that the desire to sleuth, which has become commonplace on the internet, is a symptom of the internet’s obsession with true crime and its desire to engage in gossip.
Gadd has said he’s not worried about his former stalker contacting him in the wake of the Netflix series, which he adapted from a one-man show he did at the 2019 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
“Due to where things ended in real life,” he told Variety, “it’s not a concern for me.”
But this type of fan reaction can be problematic.
On Monday, Foley posted a statement, writing, “Police have been informed and are investigating all defamatory abusive and threatening posts against me.”
In his interview with Variety, Gadd said there’s a reason why he couldn’t be too forthcoming with truthful details.
“I mean there’s certain protections, you can’t just copy somebody else’s life and name and put it onto television,” he said. “And obviously, we were very aware that some characters in it are vulnerable people, so you don’t want to make their lives more difficult. So you have to change things to protect yourself and protect other people.”
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