D.R.
01/15/2025 at 02:09Updated on 01/15/2025 at 03:55
Fantasy writer Neil Gaiman is accused of sexual assault by eight young women who testify in an article in “New York magazine”.
“Call me master”: this is the title that appears on the front page of the latest issue of New York magazine with the photo of the writer of fantasy and sci-fi Neil Gaiman, bestselling author of “Coraline” and “American Gods”, adored by millions of readers around the world and adapted several times for television and cinema. But this “master” by which the Briton asks to be called is not a tribute to his literary talents. This is the formula which symbolizes the submission that he demands from his sexual partners, consenting or not…
In an article as crude as it is devastating, New York magazine – and more precisely its “Vulture” supplement – presents the testimonies of eight women who accuse the 64-year-old Briton of having sexually assaulted them and subjected them to degrading treatment. Among them, Scarlett Pavlovich, who worked as a babysitter for Neil Gaiman's children and speaks at length in the article.
“For decades, Gaiman has presented himself as a feminist writer. It's someone who speaks specifically to women, who sees them and with whom they feel safe. So I knew immediately that there was a dissonance between what he said he was and these stories,” explains the author of the article, Lila Shapiro.
In fact, the actions reported in the New York magazine and denied by Neil Gaiman's lawyers are chilling.
The accusations against the author had already been mentioned last summer in the podcast “Master: the allegations against Neil Gaiman,” from Tortoise Media but the witnesses remained anonymous at the time and their story was little taken up by the major media.
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Sordid remarks
Like Scarlett Pavlovich, the other women, around twenty years old and 18 years old for the youngest, admirers for five of them, describe similar scenarios: non-consensual sexual relations, obtained by surprise or by force. , all tinged with BDSM (Acronym derived from Bondage and Discipline, Domination and Submission, Sadomasochism). And later, sums paid to ensure the silence of the victims.
Scarlett Pavlovich says she was abused by the writer in Auckland when she was 22 and looking after her 5-year-old son, at the request of Amanda Palmer, his second wife from whom he had just separated and whose role in the facts reported would be ambiguous to say the least.
A first attack, recounted in detail by Scarlett Pavlovich, was reportedly peppered with sordid comments from Neil Gaiman, ordering her to call him “master” and to behave like “a good little girl”. Subsequently, in an Auckland hotel room, he allegedly forced him to have sex while the young woman's son was in the room… Scarlett Pavlovich signed a confidentiality agreement in exchange for $9,200 before to change his mind and file a complaint for sexual assault in January 2023, complaint dismissed…
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“He had no limits”
Caroline, another woman in her twenties who acted as a babysitter for the writer, reports an equally frightening scene, this time in the presence of Neil Gaiman's son: “One evening, Caroline and the boy, then aged 4, fell asleep reading stories in Gaiman and Palmer's bed,” we read in New York magazine. “Caroline woke up when Gaiman got home. He got into bed with his son in the middle, then reached over the child to grab Caroline's hand and put it on his penis. She said she jumped out of bed. “He had no limits,” says Caroline. “I remember thinking there was something seriously wrong with him.” » Caroline would have obtained 300,000 dollars for her silence on these acts firmly denied by her lawyers who assure that no sexual relations took place in the presence of a child.
Neil Gaiman's influence seems to have been favored by the admiration that young women had for his work. Fans of fantasy form a “vulnerable community”, one of the author’s former friends, herself a writer of books of fantasy. “They want to share their soul with the creators of these works. And if you have a moral, you say 'no'. »
As for BDSM relationships, Lila Shapiro points out that seven of the eight women she spoke with told her they were not interested in it: “The main characteristic of BDSM is consent. If only one party consents, it is not BDSM but abuse,” recalls the journalist.
Denies and mea culpa
Silent since the first accusations, Neil Gaiman decided to speak out on his blog this Tuesday, January 14: “Reading this latest collection of stories, there are moments that I half recognize and others that I don't. do not recognize, descriptions of things that happened alongside things that absolutely did not happen. I'm far from a perfect person, but I've never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity with anyone. Never. »
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A denial followed by the beginnings of a mea culpa: “At the time I experienced these relationships, they seemed positive and happy on both sides. And I realize, looking through them years later, that I could and should have done much better. I wasn't emotionally available while being sexually available, I was self-centered, and I wasn't as thoughtful as I could or should have been. I was obviously careless with people's hearts and feelings, and that is something I truly, deeply regret. It was selfish of me. I was caught up in my own story and ignored everyone else's. »
Canceled projects
Previous revelations from the Tortoise Media podcast had consequences on the writer's professional projects: Disney announced that the adaptation of “The Strange Life of Nobody Owens” was suspended while the 3rd season of “Good Omens », Originally planned in several episodes, will be reduced to a single, 90-minute episode. Finally, the 2nd season of the adaptation of the comic book written by Neil Gaiman, “Dead Boy Detectives”, was canceled by Netflix.
