Today, New York Magazine and its website arm, Vulture, have published an extremely detailed follow-up investigation, totalling 11,000 words. For the article, the investigation talked to eight women in total who all reported non-consensual and abusive behaviour from Gaiman. Gaiman's ex-wife Amanda Palmer is quoted as saying that she believed as many as fourteen women had reported problematic behaviour from Gaiman over many years.
Some of the reporting is extremely graphic, detailed and disturbing.
The investigation did not interview Gaiman directly, but through his representatives he repeated his position that all relationships were consensual, despite the vast power differential in several of them (one of the women involved was employed as his nanny; another was living in one of his houses with the intimation that she would be kicked out if she refused to sleep with him).
The allegations have already negatively impacted Gaiman's career: Amazon have cancelled the third full season of his TV show Good Omens and instead are airing a single 90-minute special to wrap up the story. Netflix are deep in post-production on Season 2 of Sandman and had been expected to heavily promote the show after its first season was acclaimed, but now seem to be experiencing headaches over how to handle the situation. Rumours of varying credibility have indicated that the story has been tweaked so Season 2 can serve as a final conclusion to the whole saga if necessary. Gaiman has not published a solo, full-length novel in some twelve years, though he has published some books for younger readers and story collections.
At least two police investigations based on the reporting have taken place, with one of them still ongoing.
Gaiman has long been considered a cult figure in science fiction and fantasy circles. He rose to fame with his 10-volume graphic novel series The Sandman, published from 1988 to 1996, followed by novels including Neverwhere, American Gods, Anansi Boys and The Ocean at the End of the Lane, as well as his collaboration with Terry Pratchett, Good Omens. He has sold well over 40 million graphic novels and books, and won numerous awards. Since the allegations rolled out last year, the response from his fans and former collaborators has been one of shock, but this is now turning into anger as the seriousness of the situation escalates.
Update: Neil Gaiman has made a public statement, again denying that many of the incidents took place, whilst saying that everything he did was consensual.
I don't know, really. The article is written like a tacky story, full of invalid cross-connections and hints, and I question this mode of journalism.
ReplyDeleteAnd she claims she blurted out a series of statements like "She was gay, she’d never had sex, she had been sexually abused by a 45-year-old man when she was 15. Gaiman continued to press." And then still he proceeded to the graphic stuff (with the finger etc. etc.) as she claimed. That sounds like a lurid story and not realistic behaviour on both sides. I also don't believe that he was only ever wearing a mask, as it were just for this purpose.
I'm remotely reminded of accusations (withdrawn) against a certain RPG writer and developer... Those Twitter threads read like rants from a person who can't distinguish between real and imagination, as of a manipulative person or troll, though notably they ended with him doing nothing at all (just no distinction between imagination, interpretation and real). My older had always harassed me (verbally and by some chases, some poorly aimed punches from him) for years when we were both at home (already over 20), with always carefully laid-out, precise rants of imagination, circularity, manipulation (trying to get into my head to be as harmful as possible) and projection, when I was just sitting in my room behind the door. Clearly a malignant narcissist and psycho of sorts (even confirmed, but in another capacity). And I was reminded of those rants when I read those Twitter messages.
That's just one person's 2 cents, certainly foolish and poorly written.