Richard Gadd's friend Sean Foley has contacted police after he was falsely accused of being the comic’s abuser following the release of Baby Reindeer.
The Netflix series is inspired by Gadd’s actual encounter with a stalker, which he initially portrayed in a one-man show with the same title.
In the show, Gadd’s character is groomed and sexually assaulted by a TV comedy writer named Darrien, portrayed by Tom Goodman-Hill.
In the wake of the show’s release, Foley said that he's been wrongly targeted by online trolls who have accused him of being the real-life individual behind the character in a series of “defamatory, abusive and threatening” online posts.
The director and writer said he had also contacted police, who were now investigating the false allegations.
On X, formerly known as Twitter, the 59-year-old shared: “Police have been informed and are investigating all defamatory abusive and threatening posts against me.”
Foley’s tweet comes after Gadd urged those seeking out the real-life identities of Darrien and his stalker Martha, played by Jessica Gunning, to stop.
The 34-year-old asked viewers to halt speculation, revealing that innocent people have also been “unfairly” getting caught up in the rumours.
Taking his Instagram Story on Monday, the comedian wrote: “People I love, have worked with, and admire (including Sean Foley) are unfairly getting caught up in speculation.
Police have been informed and are investigating all defamatory abusive and threatening posts against me.
— sean foley (@SeanFoleyJ) April 23, 2024
“Please don’t speculate on who the real life people could be. That’s not the point of our show.”
Written by and starring Gadd, the seven-parter tells the story of Donny, a struggling comedian living in London trying to make it big, being relentlessly pursued by a woman named Martha Scott.
In Gadd's real life experience, his stalker sent him more than 41,000 emails, voicemails totalling to 350 hours, dozens of social media messages and 106 pages of letters, over the course of three years.
His play, by the same name, premiered at the renowned Edinburgh Fringe Festival and later enjoyed a successful run at London's Bush theatre.
Fast forward five years, it has become one of Netflix's most successful streamed shows.
