The real-life ‘Martha’ from Netflix hit Baby Reindeer has claimed a nightclub promising a meet-and-greet with her “tried to exploit me”.
Fiona Harvey, who claims to be the inspiration for ‘Martha’, was apparently booked for a gig at a nightclub earlier this week. The Kasbah, the Coventry nightclub hosting the event, claimed Harvey “will be signing autographs, taking selfies and she may also take a lucky reindeer home to hang her curtains!”
However, after significant backlash, The Kasbah announced it had cancelled the event after it was deemed “unsafe”.
Now, Fiona Harvey has responded in an interview with Scotland’s Daily Record, saying: “Of course it’s not true. If I am supposed to be a mad stalker, why do they want me in the nightclub? No nightclub has approached me. I didn’t even know there were any nightclubs in Coventry.”
She added: “It’s the sort of thing that used to be classed as a grab-a-granny night, like Clatty Pat’s which was the name given to a club called Cleopatra’s in Glasgow, or Crazy Daisy’s nightclub in Aberdeen. I can barely go out for coffee let alone clubbing. It’s another example of people trying to exploit me.” NME have reached out to The Kasbah for comment.
Harvey also referenced her recent interview with Piers Morgan, which has since been viewed 10million times on YouTube. She said: “I thought I was sent to Coventry two weeks ago when I was portrayed as a mad stalker. Though I’d probably make more money signing autographs than I would from appearing on Piers Morgan.”
Morgan has since defended his controversial interview, saying Harvey should be allowed to “tell her side of the story”.
“If she was a convicted stalker who had gone to prison and put his life through hell, clearly we had to think long and hard about the public interest justification in giving her the platform,” he added.
“But I felt there was enough of a question mark surrounding that part of the story to justify her at least giving her side of the story. She is emphatic that there was no court case, no conviction, she never pled guilty and there was no prison sentence.”
Almost immediately after the show premiered on Netflix last month, some viewers attempted to uncover the real identities of characters in the show, including Martha. Gadd himself subsequently urged people to refrain from speculation, saying, “that’s not the point of our show”.