Nona Gaprindashvili is claiming $5 million from Netflix for her sexist bias in her hit series.
A Los Angeles judge has ruled to accept the lawsuit brought against Netflix by Georgian Nonna Gabrindashvili, the Soviet chess legend who accuses the platform of defaming her sexuality on her hit series “The Queen’s Game”.
Georgian hero demands $5 million from Netflix in compensation.
In the series, one character claims that the Georgian hero has “never faced men” in competition, unlike the fictional “Checkers” heroine, American Beth Harmon played by Anya Taylor-Joy.
Netflix says it has the ‘most respect’ for the player
This allegation against Nona Gaprindashvili is “manifestly false, as well as blatant sexism and defamation,” identifying the complaint filed last September by the hero, now 80.
The complaint states that Nonna Gabrindashvili, who in 1978 became the first major female chess grandmaster in history, had already faced dozens of prominent male players in 1968, the year “The Queen’s Game” was supposed to take place.
Netflix has denied wanting to offend the hero and confirmed in a press release that it has “high respect for Nona Gaprindashvili and her illustrious career”.
But the platform considered at the time that the complaint was “unfounded”, arguing that it was an act of fiction protected by the US Constitution and its First Amendment that guarantees freedom of expression.
The women’s world champion is only 20 years old
In a ruling issued Thursday, California District Judge Virginia Phillips ruled that a literary work is not immune from defamation lawsuits if it harms real people.
Born in 1941 in Zugdidi, western Georgia, Nonna Gabrindashvili has been playing chess since she was 13 years old.
She won the Women’s World Championship at the age of 20 and successfully defended her title four times, before losing her title in 1978 to 17-year-old Georgian Maya Chibordanides.
When it aired, The Queen’s Gambit (“Le jeu de la dame” in French) broke records with 62 million views worldwide in four weeks and won eleven Emmys.
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