British author Neil Gaiman faces new accusations of sexual assault, after publication in the magazine New York Magazine of extensive information in which up to eight women narrate their experiences with the person responsible for the comic Sandman and books like American Gods. Their testimonies join those of the women who accused the author of abuse in the series of podcasts of The Tortoise from the summer of 2024 titled Master. Most of the women, explains journalist Lila Shapiro, were in their twenties when they met the author (the youngest was 18). Two of them worked for him, and five were fans. With the exception of an allegedly forced kiss in 1986, the stories take place when Gaiman, for his part, was over 40 years old. So, the report says, Gaiman already presented himself as a fighter for women’s rights.
The investigation reviews in detail, through messages, testimonies and emails, the accusations of these women, although the most graphic story is the one constructed by Scarlett Pavlovich, a former nanny of Gaiman and his ex-wife, the singer Amanda Palmer. The first assault that this woman recounts happened shortly after she started working for them in their home in New Zealand. The author, according to his employee’s story, got naked into the garden bathtub where he was and asked her to spread her legs, which she refused. This was followed by her sitting on his lap and, despite telling him that she was a lesbian, Gaiman tried to penetrate her and ejaculated on her face. To all requests for a response from the magazine, Gaiman’s representatives have explained that the sex was always consensual, and that the report is part of Palmer’s strategy to deal with his “complicated” five-year divorce battle. and custody of his son. Palmer claims that 14 women contacted her, but she did not want to collaborate with the police investigations.
Pavlovich took his case to the police in January 2023, but the investigation was dismissed. There was no formal interrogation of Neil Gaiman, but the author did provide written testimony. At least she and another of the victims reported the attacks to the police, according to the report. New York Magazinealthough none has prospered. Several of the women also explain that they have received financial compensation to pay for psychological help of up to $60,000 and signed confidentiality agreements. After the accusations made in The TortoiseGaiman’s legal team has already defended that everything was consensual and that “degradation, slavery, domination, sadism and masochism, although they may not be to everyone’s taste, is legal between adults who consent to sadomasochism.” Pavlovich defends that on several occasions he shouted “no.”
The babysitter recounts details such as that she fainted having anal sex with him, that she had to have oral sex while they were watching the first season of the series The Sandmanfrom Netflix, and that on another occasion she vomited on him because of the force with which he pressed her and then forced her to lick it off her lap. The most gruesome details come when he describes how he, always according to the victim’s story, forced her to have sex in a hotel room while his son was in front looking at his iPad and Gaiman was talking to him. On another occasion, she says, the boy began to call her “slave” and asked her to call him “master,” which caused her father to laugh.
Gaiman’s representatives maintain that “everything is false and deplorable.” Caroline, another of the New Zealand nannies who accuse him and who signed a $5,000 agreement with the author not to report him, also says that her employer got into bed with her and the boy and made her grab his penis. Gaiman’s team claims that she was the one who started the sexual encounters and that the son was never involved.
Last December, the accusers, who did not know each other, met to tell their experiences and now share a WhatsApp group. Many times the same story is repeated. “It’s like meeting survivors of the same sect.” Another of the voices in the report is Kendra Stout, who was 18 years old when she met Gaiman as a fan in a line to get her book signed. The young woman claims that he invited her to his hotel room and that the sex was always “painful” because, according to her account of what Gaiman said, “she was never submissive enough.” Sout assures that the author never asked him what he liked in bed, that he could never set “limits” or “care” and that “there were no safe words,” as the report is titled, which also recounts his childhood. in a Scientologist and abusive family of the author, as well as the reflections in his work. “He asked him to call him his ‘master’ and hit him with his belt. “She told him she didn’t like him,” he says about Sout.
Gaiman is one of the most recognized authors of his generation, and one of the great names in fantasy literature and comics. The second season of Sandman remains among Netflix’s future plans, although the author does not appear in any of the latest trailers and behind-the-scenes trailers. Since the allegations surfaced, Netflix canceled the series The dead detectivesDisney stopped development of the animated film The cemetery book and Amazon Prime Video decided to convert the third season of good omens (Good Omens) in a final film without Gaiman being anymore show-runneralthough none of the companies related these changes and cancellations to the accusations made by the podcast.