Neil Gaiman faces new sexual assault allegations

New allegations of sexual misconduct and abuse have emerged against Neil Gaiman, the best-selling fantasy author whose books Good omens, American Gods and The Sandman have become TV series.

On Monday, New York Magazine published a cover story titled “There Is No Safe Word,” featuring author Lila Shapiro’s piece detailing new allegations against Gaiman based on interviews with eight women. This follows the release of the Tortoise Media podcast in July 2024 Masterwhich previously reported graphic accusations by five women against the famed genre writer. (Four of these women were among those who spoke in favor New York Magazine piece.)

One of the claims comes from Scarlett Pavlovich, a former babysitter for Gaiman and his ex-wife Amanda Palmer, who described being sexually assaulted in February 2022 by Gaiman in New Zealand in a backyard bathtub.

She also alleged that Gaiman assaulted her under the covers of a hotel room bed while his son played with an iPad in the same room. (Gaiman’s reps denied these claims, calling them “false, not to mention deplorable,” for New York Magazine.)

A police report accusing Gaiman of sexual assault was made in January 2023, but the investigation was eventually dropped.

Another allegation of sexual misconduct described in New York Magazine The piece comes from Brenda (a pseudonym), who recalled meeting Gaiman in the 1990s at a book signing. A few years later, she and Gaiman had a sexual encounter at a horror convention.

“He seemed to have a script,” Brenda told me. “He wanted me to call him ‘master’ immediately… It was like he had entered this ritual that had nothing to do with me.”

Upcoming Gaiman book-to-screen adaptations include The Sandman season two at Netflix, the Amazon miniseries Anansi boysand the final section of 90 minutes of Good omens, also at Amazon. The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to Netflix and Amazon for comment on the status of those projects, and has also reached out to Gaiman for direct comment on the magazine’s cover story.

Gaiman has also written screenplays for Never places and Mirror maskwrote an episode of Doctor Whowrote together Beowulf with Robert Zemeckis and produced the film Stardust.

Gaiman told through his representatives New York Magazine he and the women had attended “consensual meetings”.