Multiple women have accused Neil Gaiman of sexual harassment, as reported in New York Magazine. Gaiman has denied all allegations, issuing a detailed statement: “I have never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity with anyone. Ever.”
In July, a podcast investigation by Tortoise Media brought forward allegations from two women. One woman claimed Gaiman engaged in non-consensual sexual acts with her when she was 22 and working as a nanny for his family in New Zealand. At the time, Gaiman denied the accusations, stating that all his sexual encounters had been consensual.
Another woman, who worked as Gaiman’s caretaker in upstate New York, alleged that Gaiman pressured her into a sexual relationship in exchange for living on his property. She also claimed he offered her $275,000 and a confidentiality agreement. Gaiman again asserted that their relationship was consensual.
This week, New York Magazine published additional accusations from multiple women, including allegations of sexual assault, harassment, and coercion. The magazine interviewed eight women, six of whom were identified on the record. Four of these women had also participated in the Tortoise podcast series.
In a statement released on his website, Gaiman addressed the allegations publicly for the first time, saying: “out of respect for the people who were sharing their stories and out of a desire not to draw even more attention to a lot of misinformation” but added: “I’ve now reached the point where I feel that I should say something.”
While he still believed his relationships with all of the women were “entirely consensual sexual relationships” based on their communications with him at the time, he said he had spent months reflecting on how he had conducted himself in relationships.
“At the same time, as I reflect on my past – and as I re-review everything that actually happened as opposed to what is being alleged – I don’t accept there was any abuse. To repeat, I have never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity with anyone.”
He said some of the “horrible” allegations “simply never happened” and that others “have been so distorted from what actually took place that they bear no relationship to reality.”
Gaiman concluded: “I am prepared to take responsibility for any missteps I made. I’m not willing to turn my back on the truth, and I can’t accept being described as someone I am not, and cannot and will not admit to doing things I didn’t do.”
J.K. Rowling attacked the literary community on X over allegations against Neil Gaiman.
“The literary crowd that had a hell of a lot to say about Harvey Weinstein before he was convicted has been strangely muted in its response to multiple accusations against Neil Gaiman from young women who’d never met, yet – as with Weinstein – tell remarkably similar stories,” Rowling wrote in her tweet about Gaiman.
Since the allegations surfaced, three screen adaptations of Gaiman’s works have been canceled or halted, including Netflix’s ‘Dead Boy Detectives,’ the third and final season of the Amazon series ‘Good Omens,’ and the Disney adaptation of ‘The Graveyard Book,’ which is currently in production.
