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Recommendations of the Editorial team

Neil Gaiman has continued to deny the allegations of sexual misconduct, calling them a “smear campaign” and claiming there are “emails, text messages and video evidence that clearly contradict them.”

In a new, lengthy statement Gaiman shared on Bluesky on Monday, February 2, the “Good Omens” author said it’s been “an at times nightmarish year and a half” and also mentioned a new writing project he’s working on. “These allegations, particularly the truly sensational ones, were spread and amplified by people who seemed far more interested in outrage and clicks on headlines than in whether or not things actually happened. (They didn’t.),” Gaiman said in his first public comment on the allegations in nearly a year.

Accusations and legal action

In 2024, Scarlett Pavlovich, a former nanny who began working for Gaiman and his then-wife Amanda Palmer in New Zealand in February 2022 (the couple finalized their divorce later that year), accused Gaiman of sexual abuse and human trafficking, the latter accusation also including Palmer. Pavlovich sued the couple after she shared her story with New York Magazine, where eight other Gaiman accusers spoke for the story.

In March of last year, Gaiman’s lawyers filed a motion to dismiss Pavlovich’s sexual assault lawsuit, calling her a “fantasist who fabricated a story of abuse,” including in their filing text messages that they said “demonstrate, in Pavlovich’s own words, that our relationship was consensual.”

In October, a Wisconsin judge dismissed Pavlovich’s sexual assault lawsuit, saying the case should be filed in New Zealand, where the alleged assault occurred. Pavlovich’s lawyers have filed an appeal. It is unclear whether Pavlovich and her team’s case will be brought to New Zealand.

Representatives for Pavlovich did not immediately respond to ROLLING STONE’s request for comment. A representative for Palmer declined to comment.

In his statement Monday, Gaiman said he was “astonished” at how much of the coverage of the allegations “was simply an echo chamber and how the actual evidence was dismissed or ignored.”

Consequences for Gaiman’s career

Gaiman has denied all allegations against him. He has since been dropped from several projects based on his work, including Anansi Boys and the final season of Good Omens on Amazon. Dark Horse Comics also canceled plans to publish the final issue of the Anansi Boys comic series. The author was also absent from press for the final season of The Sandman on Netflix, and development on The Graveyard Book was also halted.

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