Netflix faces lawsuit over The Queen’s Gambit
After a rough week, it seemed things looked slightly better for Netflix after their stocks are rising again. However, the popular OTT platform took a major hit this week in court regarding “The Queen’s Gambit”.
A Federal judge denied the desire of the streamer to acquire the $5 million valued Soviet chess figure Nona Gaprindashvili for being dismissed regarding historical inaccuracy and sexism.
Grandmaster Nona Gaprindashvili did play men. She not only played men many times but beat many male grandmasters. pic.twitter.com/fwTgEj2w8d
— The Queen’s Gambit (@NetflixTheQG) January 28, 2022
US District Judge holds Netflix accountable
The US District Judge mentioned that even though the multiple Emmy Awards winner series is a fictional work, Netflix will still be accountable for defamation if the elements are present as evidence.
The Queen’s Gambit by Allan Scott and Scott Frank is based on the 1983 novel by Walter Tevi.
According to the chess icon’s defamation complaint, the claim that Gaprindashvili has never competed against men is entirely false while being extremely sexist at the same time.
The episode in Queen’s Gambit is set in 1968. And by then, Gaprindashvili had competed with around 59 male players which includes at least 10 Grandmasters of that era.
Will Netflix resign the game?
Netflix tried to justify themselves by deriving the FX and Ryan Murphy’s incident with late great Olivia de Haviland. According to the streaming platform, it was just a minor inaccuracy.
The judge mentioned that the streamer is in the position of a bad Bishop. The Court cannot ignore that despite being fictional, the Line is the identity of a real person and so does Plaintiff. The series even showed an actor sitting in the audience resembling Plaintiff.
Phillips concluded that due to the thin line between fictional characters and real people, viewers can reasonably believe the historical details shown in the series.
Gaprindashvili requested a jury trial and we need to wait and see where all of this ends up. Netflix has no comment as of now but it seems plausible that they might speak and settle the case.
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