Neil Gaiman denies allegations of sexual harassment by two women

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Neil Gaiman – the bestselling author whose works also include comic series The Sandman, and the novels A good omen And American Gods – has denied allegations of sexual assault made against him by two women with whom he was in a relationship at the time, reports Tortoise Media.

The allegations were made during Tortoise’s four-part podcast Master: The allegations against Neil Gaimanwhich was published on Wednesday. In it, the women accuse the author of “rough and degrading sex” that was not always consensual.

One of the women, 23-year-old Scarlett, worked as a nanny for his child. She claimed Gaiman assaulted her in a bathroom at his New Zealand home in February 2022, just hours after they first met. Gaiman told the outlet he and Scarlett were “cuddling” and “making out” in the bathroom and that it was consensual; he added that they only practiced digital penetration in the three-week sexual relationship they had.

Scarlett claims that during their consensual relationship, Gaiman also sexually abused her with non-consensual “rough and degrading penetrative sexual acts,” as the newspaper describes in its investigation. In one incident, the pain was “so painful and so intense” that she lost consciousness. “The pain was heavenly,” she said. When she asked him to stop, “he laughed and said I needed to be punished and used his belt on me,” she said on the podcast via The TelegraphGaiman denied the allegations to Tortoise.

The second woman, who calls herself K, was 18 when she met him at a book signing in Florida in 2003. She claims they began a romantic relationship when she was 20 and he was in his mid-forties. During their relationship, she claims she was subjected to rough and painful sex “that she neither wanted nor enjoyed.” At one point, she claimed he penetrated her despite her objections because she was in the middle of a urinary tract infection; the incident left her “screaming” in pain. Gaiman denied K’s allegations and told Tortoise he was “disturbed” by the accusations.

Gaiman representatives did not return immediately Rolling StonePlease leave a comment.

According to Tortoise’s investigation, K did not report the incident to the police. Scarlett reported the incident to the New Zealand Police in October 2022.

Gaiman told Tortoise that police had not followed up on his offer to help investigate the complaint because it showed the complaint was not substantiated. However, New Zealand Police told the newspaper that they had “made several attempts to speak to key individuals as part of this investigation and those efforts are ongoing.” It added that “there are a number of factors to consider in this case, including the whereabouts of all parties.”