Netflix’s ‘The Queen’s Gambit’ Sued By Chess Champion Over ‘Degrading’ Comments
Image via Netflix
Chess champion Nona Gaprindashvili is taking on Netflix for what was said in a scene from one of the platform’s most popular shows: The Queen’s Gambit.
The Georgian chess pro took offense with a line falsely claiming that she “never played men.” The statement is described as “grossly sexist and belittling,” and she is asking for US$5 million from the streaming giant in compensation.
These damages are for what the lawsuit calls “devastating falsehood, undermining and degrading her accomplishments before an audience of many millions.”
According to The Guardian, the quote appears in the series finale, where a character said, “Elizabeth Harmon’s not at all an important player by their standards. The only unusual thing about her, really, is her sex. And even that’s not unique in Russia. There’s Nona Gaprindashivili, but she’s the female world champion and has never faced men.”
Understandably, Gaprindashvili didn’t appreciate the writers undermining her achievements. According to the lawsuit, over the course of her illustrious career, she faced 59 male opponents, including 28 of them in a single simultaneous match, as well as 10 grandmasters.
“They were trying to do this fictional character who was blazing the trail for other women, when in reality I had already blazed the trail and and inspired generations,” she told The New York Times.
Netflix responded in the paper, saying it “has only the utmost respect for Ms Gaprindashvili and her illustrious career, but we believe this claim has no merit and will vigorously defend the case.”
It remains to to be seen who’ll come up tops in this battle.
[via The Guardian, cover image via Netflix]
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