My Little Reindeer on Netflix: Does the series risk revealing too much about the real story?

Has Richard Gad, creator of the My Little Reindeer series, revealed too many details about his personal history? This is a question that arises in social networks after a number of excesses caused by the popularity of the program.

In case you missed this phenomenon, My Little Deer is about a comedian whose career is struggling to take off. A bartender in his spare time, he meets customers at his workplace and becomes a victim of years of harassment.

The author and actor of the series, Richard Gad, tells us about his ordeal, which he experienced until 2019. He also relives the rape he suffered during his career. Amazing and hard to watch, My Little Reindeer belongs to the autofiction genre. The author uses his own life and paints a story sprinkled with fictional elements.

However, for the viewer, the line between fiction and reality is not clear. Richard Gad, rightly so, is tight-lipped about the identity of his stalker and his assailant, confirming that he changed many details so that they would not recognize each other.

Abuse in social networks

The success of the series has ignited social networks and many Internet users are playing detective to find the real heroes. Thus, the identity of the woman – presented as “the real Martha” – was revealed and put out to pasture on the Internet. As for the attacker, many names from the creator’s entourage spread, to the point that the author himself had to post a warning message on his official Instagram account:

“Hi everyone, it’s unfair to single out people I’ve worked with and admired – including Sean Foley. Please don’t think about who the real people are. This is in no way the point of our series.”

This process puts people at risk of being associated with actions they have not actually committed, all without any verification or proof. Such accusations on the Internet are defamation.

Audience and media responsibility

The media in turn participates in this mechanism, as does the British tabloid Daily Mail who claims to have found the “real” Martha and publishes an interview to get her vote. Again, the story of his actual participation without any evidence.

So, did Richard Gad make a mistake by revealing too much information? If he takes a real risk in making the audience interested in his life, the author remains completely legal. He changed names and altered many details to ensure that real people could be found.

In Interview for GQ, he specifies that the first interested parties may not even recognize each other. It is the public’s responsibility to stop what they see, respect everyone’s privacy and not cross the line authorized by the author.

My Little Reindeer is available on Netflix.