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Author Neil Gaiman arrives to discuss his new series “The Sandman” at 92nd Street Y on August 22, 2022 in New York City. (Photo by Paula Lobo#1044029#51C ED/Getty Images)
Photo by Paula Lobo/Getty Images

‘Dismissive, shameful gibberish’: Neil Gaiman’s former fans aren’t buying his response to the horrific allegations

"This does nothing to sway me."

We should feel very sorry for Neil Gaiman‘s legions of devoted fans. For decades they thought they were championing a kind, supportive, feminist ally who regularly delivered imaginative, impressive gothic fantasies. Everything, from his writing to his online activity to his social circle, painted a picture of a genuinely lovely person.

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Over the last six months that facade has come crashing down. First came a series of podcasts detailing Gaiman’s questionable sexual behavior, but this week’s publication of a lengthy exposé in New York Magazine drawn from the direct testimony of his alleged victims has left jaws on the floor. We won’t go into the precise nature of their stories here, but the general response has been shock, disgust, and outright horror.

Most of Gaiman’s predominantly liberal, feminist fanbase disowned him overnight. Signed books have been tossed in recycling, graphic novels donated to Goodwill, and we only have sympathy for those stuck with tattoos of his characters.

For days Gaiman didn’t respond, but has now posted a rebuttal on his website. The summary is that he believes all the encounters in the article were either consensual or “things that emphatically did not happen.” He underlines “I have never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity with anyone. Ever.” and concludes:

“I am prepared to take responsibility for any missteps I made. I’m not willing to turn my back on the truth, and I can’t accept being described as someone I am not, and cannot and will not admit to doing things I didn’t do.”

This is one of those occasions where silence probably would have been the smarter move. Gaiman is effectively saying that his accusers are outright lying. The trouble is that, at least from what we can see in the article, the allegations are backed up by text messages, payments, and video messages. On a journalistic level, the story will have had to be carefully vetted by New York Magazine‘s legal department and, at least as of writing, Gaiman’s lawyers haven’t intervened.

All of which means absolutely nobody is buying this rebuttal. Over on X, the statement has been summarized as “dismissive, shameful gibberish”:

Others point out that it’s sus that this isn’t coming from his lawyers:

And, without mincing words that this response is “f**king heinous”:

Over on Reddit’s r/neilgaiman, his formerly die-hard fans are in collective mutiny:

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They agree that this is at best a pointless statement:

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This classic is always worth posting in these situations:

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Or, simply:

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It’s difficult to see a way back from this for Gaiman. The best-case scenario is that somehow his production partners in Netflix and Amazon shrug their shoulders and continue producing The Sandman and various other adaptations of his work. However, given the shocking nature of these women’s stories, we suspect some executives are mulling over writing off what’s already been spent as a tax break.

As for his future literary career? Well, if his fans are actively destroying the Gaiman novels they already own, it seems unlikely they’ll be rushing out to buy new ones. Though many would like to see criminal charges brought against him and compensatory payments to his alleged victims, it would ultimately be best for Gaiman and his work to simply fade away into obscurity. Here’s hoping karma is real.


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David James
I'm a writer/editor who's been at the site since 2015. Love writing about video games and will crawl over broken glass to write about anything related to Hideo Kojima. But am happy to write about anything and everything, so long as it's interesting!