Last year, in July 2024, four women called out Neil Gaiman, the bestselling author behind 'The Sandman', 'American Gods' and 'Good Omens', for predatory behaviour and sexual assault during a chat on a podcast titled Master: The Allegations Against Neil Gaiman, hosted by Tortoise Media. Gaiman denied the allegations at the time.
On Monday, four more women revealed horrifying details of sexual violence, coercion and misuse of power in an account published by New York magazine as a cover story titled 'There Is No Safe Word', also published online on their pop culture website, Vulture.
The reports say that, at the time, the women were all in their 20s, with another being 18. Gaiman was said to be in his 40s or older then.
One woman, Scarlett Pavlovich, the former nanny of Gaiman and ex-wife Amanda Palmer, alleged that Gaiman had sexually assaulted her three years ago, including once in front of his son.
Moreover, six women who told the magazine that they had been in a consensual relationship with Gaiman revealed that the author forced them to engage in rough sex and BDSM activities to which they had not consented and that they felt helpless as they were his employees working and living on his property.
Gaiman has categorically denied these allegations, saying he reacted to the reports with "horror and dismay". In a statement on his official website, he wrote: "As I read through this latest collection of accounts, there are moments I half-recognise and moments I don't, descriptions of things that happened sitting beside things that emphatically did not happen. I'm far from a perfect person, but I have never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity with anyone. Ever..."
The British-born author claims that some of these incidents never happened while "others have been so distorted from what actually took place that they bear no relationship to reality," adding that he will be taking responsibility for "any missteps" he has made and "can't accept being described as someone I am not, and cannot and will not admit to doing things I didn't do."
