Author Neil Gaiman has vigorously refuted accusations of sexual assault and abuse leveled against him by several women, which were publicized in a New York Magazine expose earlier this week. In a fresh statement posted on his website on Tuesday, Gaiman emphasized, "I have steadfastly refrained from engaging in any form of non-consensual sexual activity, ever." This denial echoed a day after the magazine's cover story that featured testimonies from eight accusers, four of whom had previously recounted their allegations on the 2024 podcast series, Master: The Allegations Against Neil Gaiman. Gaiman reiterated his denial of prior claims, affirming that all his sexual encounters were consensual.
The magazine's investigation delved into texts, emails exchanged between the accusers and their confidants, as well as communications between Gaiman and the women. The expose highlighted alleged abusive conduct by Gaiman towards women, claiming he compelled them to perform degrading acts and, in certain instances, made sexual advances even when his young son was present in the room.
Among the accounts is Scarlett Pavlovich, a former nanny who embarked on employment with Gaiman and his then-wife Amanda Palmer in New Zealand in February 2022 (the couple divorced later that year). Pavlovich leveled accusations of multiple instances of assault against Gaiman. She alleges that the author forced her to perform oral sex on him while his penis was urinated upon, and on one occasion, thrust his penis into her mouth, inducing vomiting. Subsequently, Gaiman purportedly instructed her to lick the vomit from his lap. Pavlovich further claimed she engaged in sexual relations with Gaiman while his son娱乐地在同屋玩着iPad。
Pavlovich reported Gaiman to the New Zealand police in January 2023, but a spokesperson confirmed that the "matter has been concluded." Through his legal representatives, Gaiman disputed the accusations outlined in the New York Magazine story, describing them as "both false and deplorable."
In his Tuesday post, Gaiman reflected, "I revisited the messages exchanged with the women surrounding and subsequent to the alleged abusive encounters. Upon reading them now, they convey the same consensual and joyful sexual encounters as they did when initially received, with both parties expressing a desire to reconnect." He subsequently insisted, "Certain recounts of horrors are fabricated, while others have been twisted beyond recognition, bearing no semblance to the actual events."
Kendra Stout, another participant in the expose, alleged she met Gaiman in 2003, when she was 18, and recounted he spoke extensively about wanting a dominant-submissive relationship with her. Stout claimed that no "safe words" or "boundaries" (essential in BDSM agreements) were established, and Gaiman digitally and sexually penetrated her despite her protestations of "No" while she suffered from a painful urinary tract infection. Stout filed a police report against him in October of last year.
In the wake of these allegations surfacing last summer, several film and television adaptations based on Gaiman's works, including Disney's The Graveyard Book, were temporarily halted.
