AN MP has rejected an invitation by Piers Morgan to appear on his show and discuss the media exploitation of the real-life Martha from Baby Reindeer.
The SNP's culture spokesperson, John Nicolson, has said he has refused an invite to appear on Piers Morgan Uncensored.
It comes after Nicolson questioned the UK Netflix policy chief, Benjamin King, at the Commons Culture Committee over ethical questions surrounding Baby Reindeer.
The questioning followed the identification by internet sleuths of the woman, Fiona Harvey, who is believed to be the inspiration behind the character Martha in the hit Netflix show.
Harvey has since spoken to numerous news outlets about her portrayal in the series since her identity was revealed, and appeared on Morgan’s talk show last week.
READ MORE: Netflix Baby Reindeer star Richard Gadd asks fans to stop speculation
On the show, she denied stalking the show's creator and star Richard Gadd in real life and described the series as “a work of fiction, a work of hyperbole”.
The 58-year-old claimed that she was prepared to go to a court of law to defend herself over the “defamatory” depiction of her in Baby Reindeer.
Nicolson, the Ochil and South Perthshire SNP MP, quizzed the UK Netflix boss King following the identification of Harvey last week and was subsequently invited by Morgan to discuss the exploitation of her on his show.
Nicolson said he turned the request down.
He said: “Further to my questioning of the Netflix UK boss about Baby Reindeer and duty of care: Piers Morgan has interviewed the real life, Martha.
“He’s now asked me on to his show to discuss media exploitation of her. I’ve said no.”
Since the show’s release on April 11, it has racked up 56 million views and has been at the top of the Netflix UK chart for multiple weeks.
However, despite its fast-growing popularity, it has also received a fair amount of criticism around the ethical decisions of its character portrayals and how people’s real-life anonymity has been breached.
Last week during the Commons Culture Committee King defended Netflix’s creative decisions for Baby Reindeer and argued that it is very difficult for the streaming giant to control what their viewers do.
He also said it was not the show's intent to inspire fans of the show to become armchair detectives and track down the real-life Martha.
Speaking at the committee Nicolson (below) said: “It was a fascinating story and very disturbing.
“But I understand that the woman concerned, the Martha in real life has now been identified so presumably this will have quite a significant impact on her life.
“I just wondered what your thought process about her and the effect that this would have on her because obviously somebody who’s impacted quite serious mental health problems.”
King said: “Richard Gadd was very clear that this was not the intent of the show that it should inspire people to try and track down the sort of real-life individuals.
“Ultimately, it’s obviously very difficult to control what viewers do, particularly in a world where everything is amplified by social media, but fundamentally this was about Richard’s story and telling Richard’s story in a truthful way.
“I personally wouldn’t be comfortable with a world in which we decided it was better that Richard was silenced and not allowed to tell his story.”
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