Two men have accused Neil Gaiman, author of The Sandman and Good Omens, of sexual assault. According to Tortoise Media, a British news website, he was in consensual relationships with the women. The author is named in a police complaint in New Zealand.
Gaiman has strongly denied the allegations of non-consensual sex with the women. He added that the police in New Zealand didn't accept his offer of assistant when a complaint was filed in 2022. The author said that this non-acceptance of his offer meant the allegations lacked substance.
However, New Zealand authorities said that they made a “number of attempts to speak to key people as part of this investigation and those efforts remain ongoing.” They added that there are “a number of factors to take into consideration with this case, including location of all parties.”
Detailed allegations
The allegations against Gaiman span 20 years and are from a woman who worked as a nanny to his child and the other a fan of his work.
These accusations were first reported in Tortoise' four-part podcast Master: the allegations against Neil Gaiman, released July 3. The podcast detailed the women's accounts of rough sexual relations with the author which the accusers have said were not always consensual.
One of his accusers going by the pseudonym Scarlett, claimed that Gaiman sexually assaulted her hours after they first met in February 2022. She worked as a nanny to his child. According to the podcast, the author said the they only “cuddled” and “made out” and that she consented to these. He said that they were in a sexual relationship for three weeks.
However, Scarlett alleged that even in this consensual relationship, Gaiman was at time rough and degrading with her. She provided the news website with messages and notes which she claimed supported her accusations.
The second woman, identified only as K, was 18 when Gaiman met her at a book signing in Florida in 2003. She said they began a romantic relationship when she was 20 and the author was in his mid-40s. K said that while she submitted to the rough and painful sexual relations with the authors, she maintained that “she neither wanted nor enjoyed” the acts. She detailed an incident where Gaiman had sex with her despite her having asked him not to since she had a painful infection.
Neil Gaiman denies “unlawful behavior”
The author denied any unlawful behavior on his part and said he is disturbed by K's claims. The news website claimed that Gaiman believed K's accusations come from her regretting their relationship, and said that Scarlett suffered from what is commonly called false memory syndrome when they were in a relationship. However, the news podcast claimed that Scarlett's medical records and history do not support her having this condition.
Gaiman has not made any statements in public regarding the accusations. While he is not active on X (formerly Twitter), he mostly interacts with his fans on Tumblr. There are no statements from the author about the allegations there as well.
Gaiman has two upcoming projects awaiting release. One is season two of Netflix's The Sandman, based on his graphic novels. The series recently announced castings for the upcoming season. The other is third and final season of Prime Video's Good Omens. The first season was based on Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's 1990 novel of the same name. There are also talks of adapting his 2013 novel The Ocean at the End of the Lane into a stop-motion feature.
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