Ted Sarandos Defends ‘Baby Reindeer’ Amid Netflix Lawsuit: “That Is Richard’s True Story”

Ted Sarandos has defended Richard Gadd, creator of Netflix hit Baby Reindeer, which has become the subject of a defamation lawsuit by a woman identified by online sleuths as his alleged stalker.

The Netflix CEO told The Times of London newspaper that he was “proud of the show and the way Richard handled the story.”

In Baby Reindeer, the stalker was imprisoned although the woman involved said she received no conviction. The show had a “true story” label attached to it, and Sarandos said:

“It was no one’s intent to use a label recklessly. That is Richard’s true story. The fact that you’re watching on television says that parts of it were certainly fictionalised and dramatised. I’m surprised that it’s a continued debate.”

In the same interview, Sarandos reaffirmed the streamer’s commitment to local production, for example The Gentlemen and Bridgerton in the UK, and said he was as surprised as anyone when shows such as Baby Reindeer became global hits.

And he was asked to reveal his favourite non-Netflix show? His answer: The Bear, streamed on Disney+. Sarandos said of the kitchen-based comedy drama now in its third series: “It holds TV to a higher bar, which I like.”