It has been seven months since news of sexual assault allegations first broke The Sandman And Good omens Writer Neil Gaiman. During this time, Gaiman has largely disappeared from the public eye, withdrawing from his prolific, high-traffic social media channels on Twitter, Tumblr and his own blog, and declining interview requests. But on Monday, New York Magazine published a detailed cover story about the allegations: “There is no safe word“, caused a stir on social media with more detailed reporting on participants' stories and additional confirmation of graphic details.
In response to New York Magazine's story, Gaiman updated his blog responded to the allegations on Tuesday for the first time since June 2024:
Over the past few months, I have watched with horror and dismay the stories circulating about me on the Internet. I have remained silent until now, both out of respect for the people who shared their stories and out of a desire to avoid drawing more attention to a lot of misinformation. I have always tried to be a private person and increasingly felt that social media was the wrong place to talk about important personal matters. I'm at the point now where I feel like I should say something.
Allegations of violent, coercive, degrading and non-consensual sexual behavior against the author began appearing in July and August 2024when Tortoise Media released a four-and-a-half-hour series of audio interviews titled Master: the allegations against Neil Gaiman. These podcasts told the stories of five women who accused Gaiman of behavior ranging from unwanted touching to physically abusive behavior to rape. Further details came to light through interviews The New York Times And Rolling Stone. Gaiman's representatives denied the allegations, but Gaiman himself disappeared from public view without commenting.
In his blog post, which does not name the New Yorker magazine article but clearly responds to its contents, Gaiman directly disputes the stories: “I have never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity with anyone. Always.” In language familiar from other cases of sexual misconduct involving other celebrities, he writes about “taking a long, hard look at who I was and how I made people feel” and “trying to… to do the necessary work.” […] I will continue to grow.”
He also admits to being “emotionally unavailable while being sexually available” and describes his role in the relationships as “careless of people's hearts and feelings.” […] something I really deeply regret. It was selfish of me. I was caught up in my own story and ignoring other people’s.”
At the same time, he broadly states that the allegations are false or that their context has been misunderstood: “I do not accept that abuse has occurred,” he writes. “To reiterate, I have never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity with anyone.” He continues:
Some of the horrific stories now being told simply never happened, while others are so different from actual events that they bear no relation to reality. I am willing to take responsibility for any missteps I have made. I am not willing to turn my back on the truth and I cannot accept being described as someone I am not and I cannot and will not admit to having done things that I have not done.