Baby reindeer Creator and star Richard Gadd will not focus on the “negative aspects” surrounding the real-life woman who inspired his Netflix hit after his big win at the 2024 Emmys.

After winning the award for Best Actor in a Short Series, the Scottish actor was asked about the backlash from Fiona Harvey, the woman who claimed to be the inspiration behind Martha, and the libel case she filed against Netflix as a result.

“This is a night of celebration,” Gadd said in the Emmy press room. “I don’t really want to talk about all that stuff. It’s easy these days to focus on the negatives. This has touched so many people’s lives.”

He named the organizations that have been positively impacted by the miniseries, noting, “Nobody seems to talk about that enough.”

One such charity is UK-based We Are Survivors, which provides support to men, including trans and non-binary people, who have survived sexual abuse and rape. The organisation revealed that they have experienced an 80 percent increase in first-time callers since the series was released earlier this year, with 53 percent of callers specifically citing the show as their reason for seeking support.

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Duncan Craig, CEO and founder of We Are Survivors, said The Independent he had never seen anything like it. “In the past, some people might read newspaper interviews and maybe pick up the phone a month later,” he said. “But with Baby reindeerIt was absolutely immediate. I have never seen a response like this in my 15 years in this field.”

“There are people who have watched the show and gotten caught up in the media circus around it on social media, and they think, ‘If everyone is talking about it, then I can do it,'” Craig adds, noting that most of the new website visits have come through a link from Netflix.

An adaptation of Gadd’s autobiographical one-man show, Baby reindeer centers on bartender and aspiring comedian Donny, who, while dealing with an intense female stalker, Martha (Jessica Gunning), is forced to confront the long-buried trauma of sexual abuse by an older mentor. The series won four statuettes at Sunday’s ceremony, including Best Supporting Actress for Gunning.

“I honestly feel like I could wake up at any moment. This whole thing has been a dream,” Gunning said in her acceptance speech. “I’ve tried so many times to put into words what working on Baby Reindeer meant to me and I fail every time.” Her “biggest thank you” went to Gadd. “Thank you for trusting me to be your Martha. I will never, ever forget her or you or this. It really means a lot.”

Gadd, who called himself Jon Hamm’s “biggest fan” onstage, thanked his parents in his speech. “They’ve been there for me, a constant source of love and support,” he said. “The thing I’m most grateful for is that they never, ever told me what to do with my life, and they never, ever told me who to be. And I think that’s the greatest gift a parent can give a child.”