Neil Gaiman faces new sexual assault allegations

New allegations of sexual misconduct and assault have surfaced against Neil Gaiman, the bestselling fantasy author whose books Good omens, American Gods And The Sandman became television series.

Monday, New York Review published a cover story titled “There Is No Safe Word,” with writer Lila Shapiro’s article detailing new allegations against Gaiman based on interviews with eight women. This follows the July 2024 release of the Tortoise Media podcast Masterwhich reported on previous graphic accusations made by five women against the famous genre writer. (Four of these women were among those who spoke on behalf of the New York Review piece.)

One of the claims comes from Scarlett Pavlovich, a former babysitter of Gaiman and his ex-wife Amanda Palmer, who described being sexually assaulted in February 2022 by Gaiman in New Zealand in a backyard bathtub.

She also alleged that Gaiman assaulted her under the covers of a hotel room bed while her son played with an iPad in the same room. (Gaiman’s representatives have denied the claim, calling it “false, not to mention deplorable,” for New York Review.)

A police report accusing Gaiman of sexual assault was filed in January 2023, but the investigation was ultimately dropped.

Another sexual misconduct complaint detailed in the New York Review The feature comes from Brenda (a pseudonym), who remembers meeting Gaiman in the 1990s at a book signing. A few years later, she and Gaiman had sex at a horror convention.

“He seemed to have a script,” Brenda said. “He wanted me to call him ‘master’ immediately… It was like he had started this ritual that had nothing to do with me.”

Gaiman’s upcoming book-to-screen adaptations include The Sandman season two on Netflix, the Amazon miniseries Anansi Boysand the 90-minute finale episode of Good omens, also at Amazon. The Hollywood Reporter reached out to Netflix and Amazon for comment on the status of these projects, and also reached out to Gaiman for direct comment on the magazine’s cover allegations.

Gaiman also wrote screenplays for Never anywhere And Mirror maskwrote an episode of Doctor Whoco-written Beowulf with Robert Zemeckis and produced the film Stardust.

Gaiman, through his representatives, told the New York Review he and the women engaged in “consensual encounters.”