Neil Gaiman Responds to Explosive Sexual Assault Report

On Tuesday, bestselling author Neil Gaiman denied allegations of sexual abuse and assault against him by multiple women and reported in an explosive New York magazine. article this week.

In one declaration On his website, Gaiman vehemently denied engaging in “non-consensual sexual activity with anyone.” He wrote that he has remained silent about the allegations to avoid drawing attention to “a lot of misinformation,” and characterized his relationship with the women who have alleged that he assaulted them and pressured them to participate in acts against their will as “fully consenting .”

Accounts of Gaiman began to emerge last summer when several women came forward on a podcast produced by Tortoise Media and accused the author of sexually assaulting them. But a much more detailed and disturbing series of accounts from several women who claim Gaiman raped, blackmailed, abused and assaulted them was published by New York magazine on Monday. The article details alleged abusive behavior by Gaiman toward women who claim he forced them to perform degrading acts, including licking vomit off his lap, and in some cases pressured them into sexual situations while his young son was present in the room.

Some prominent authors – among them JK Rowling, Jeff VanderMeerMaureen Johnson and Naomi Alderman – condemned Gaiman’s behavior and criticized the literary world’s lukewarm response to the allegations. Other proposed that awards committees should revoke some of Gaiman’s literary awards. Some bookstores wondered whether to stop carrying his books, which have sold tens of millions of copies globally and include children’s books, comic books and beloved fantasy novels such as “American Gods” and “The Graveyard Book.” Horrified fans swore they would no longer buy or read Gaiman’s work.

While some of Gaiman’s TV and film projects were dropped after the initial allegations, reactions from his publishers, agents and professional collaborators have been far more subdued.

On Wednesday afternoon, Julia Reidhead, the chairman and president of Norton, which published Gaiman’s “Norse Mythology” in 2018, issued a memo to staff saying the company “does not want any projects with the author going forward.”

In the memo, seen by the Times, Reidhead said she was “deeply troubled” by the allegations, while noting they did not involve the publisher’s employees. Norton published an illustrated edition of the mythology book in November.

HarperCollins, which has published many of Gaiman’s most notable worksand Marvel, the comic book publisher, has no new books coming from him, according to company representatives.

Gaiman’s lawyers did not respond to a request for further comment.

His literary agent at Writers House, which represents blockbuster writers such as Dav Pilkey, Nora Roberts and Ally Condie, did not respond to requests for comment on whether the agency would continue to represent him. DC Comics, which published his blockbuster comic “The Sandman,” along with other works, declined to comment when asked if DC would continue to publish him.

For some of the women who have accused Gaiman of wrongdoing, the muted responses from some of his publishers and collaborators are a bitter disappointment.

Katherine Kendall, 35, was one of the women interviewed by Lila Shapiro for New York magazine. She met Gaiman when she was 22 while volunteering at one of his book events in Asheville, NC. She described how, at another reading, 10 months later, Gaiman – whom she had grown up reading and admiring – pulled her to the back of his tour bus and “laid on top of her.” According to Kendall, he said, “Kiss me like you mean it” and “I’m used to getting what I want.”

According to the article, Gaiman later gave Kendall $60,000 to pay for therapy in an attempt, as he put it in a recorded phone call, to “make up for some of the damage.”

In the comment sent Tuesday, Gaiman did not address specific allegations but said he reviewed the messages he exchanged with some of the women “on the occasions that have subsequently been reported as abusive” and that the messages reflect “completely consensus”. sexual relationships” that “seemed positive and happy on both sides.”

In an interview with The Times, Kendall described the “culture of secrecy” surrounding Gaiman. “Neil’s works were his bait and promotional events were his hunting ground,” she said. “As long as his publishers and professional associates remain silent, Neil will continue to have unlimited access to vulnerable women.”

Kendra Stout, another of the women, told the magazine that in 2007 Gaiman forced her to have sex with him while she “had developed a UTI that had gotten so bad she couldn’t sit down.” The article says that last October, Stout filed a police report accusing Gaiman of raping her.

“The silence in the community around him — his fandom, his publishers — is loud and disturbing,” Stout said in an interview with The Times. “I heard it was an open secret that he was a predator, but that whisper network didn’t reach me.”

Some bookstores were torn about whether to continue stocking Gaiman’s books. Lauren Nopenz, the manager and buyer at Curious Iguana, a bookstore in Frederick, Md., said the store would no longer carry Gaiman’s books on its shelves but would order copies for customers who request them. “We don’t want anyone to come into the store and see books that make them feel uncomfortable,” Nopenz said. Sarah Bagby, the owner of Watermark Books in Wichita, Kan., said her store would continue to sell Gaiman’s work as long as there was customer demand, but might not heavily promote his books. “It’s a predicament, but we will carry him,” she said.

On social media, a number of writers expressed their shock and horror at the allegations. But some writers who were friends of Gaiman’s held back. Married writers Ayelet Waldman and Michael Chabon, who hosted Gaiman’s 2011 wedding to musician and author Amanda Palmer at their home, said they were still processing the reports.

“I’m just trying to absorb all of this and don’t know what to say,” Waldman wrote in an email.

Chabon responded similarly: “I just don’t have it in me to talk about it.”

Palmer, who separated from Gaiman several years ago, declined to comment through a spokesperson, who said that “while Ms. Palmer is deeply disturbed by the allegations that Mr. Gaiman has abused numerous women, at this time her primary concern is, and must remain, her son’s well-being and therefore, to protect his privacy, she has no comment on these allegations.”

After Gaiman released his statement, in which he noted that “I could have and should have done so much better” in his relationships with women, some of the women who have come forward said they were let down but not surprised .

Stout shared a statement from several of them — a few could not be reached — and responded to Gaiman’s post. It read: “We are disappointed to see the same non-apology that women in this situation have seen so many times before.”