J.K. Rowling Blasts Neil Gaiman, Likens Him to Weinstein Amid New ‘Sandman’ Assault Allegations

Home » Entertainment » J.K. Rowling Blasts Neil Gaiman, Likens Him to Weinstein Amid New ‘Sandman’ Assault Allegations
J.K. Rowling Compares Neil Gaiman To Harvey Weinstein As ‘Sandman’ Author Faces More Sexual Assault Claims

Today, amid fresh allegations of sexual assault against Neil Gaiman, J.K. Rowling has offered a grim yet pointed comparison involving the author of Sandman.

Shortly after New York Mag published an in-depth feature delving into both new and past allegations against Gaiman by several women, the creator of Harry Potter voiced her thoughts on social media. Known for her controversial stances on gender identity issues and the transitioning of minors, which have drawn accusations of transphobia, Rowling likened the initial reactions to the accusations against Gaiman to those faced by convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein during the height of the #MeToo movement.

“This morning, I noticed that the literary elite, who were vocally critical of Harvey Weinstein before his conviction, seem unusually quiet about the multiple allegations against Neil Gaiman, made by young women who, though they’ve never met, recount strikingly similar experiences,” Rowling remarked today on X, in her second post about Gaiman.

Watch on Deadline

Like Weinstein, Gaiman is accused of not only assaulting women but also using non-disclosure agreements and financial settlements to silence his alleged victims. Similar to cases involving Weinstein, Bill Cosby, Danny Masterson, and others who have recently been prosecuted for sexual crimes, the pattern of behavior described by unrelated women about Gaiman suggests a repeated modus operandi.

Expanding upon details first brought to light last summer in the Tortoise Media’s six-part podcast ‘Master: the allegations against Neil Gaiman,’ New York Mag’s report “There Is No Safe Word” by Lila Shapiro included interviews with eight women, three of whom had not previously come forward. The alleged assaults, some claimed to have occurred near Gaiman’s son in their New York state home, and others during a lockdown in New Zealand with his then-wife Amanda Palmer, involved women from their late teens to early twenties.

Previously describing the accusations as consensual interactions and denying any assaults, Gaiman, who is represented by CAA, has not yet responded to these latest claims. The complexity of the situation is heightened by the NDAs and ongoing interactions some of the women have had with Gaiman.

Both Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, which are collaborating with Gaiman on projects like the second season of Sandman and a 90-minute finale of Good Omens, have not yet commented on these new allegations. Gaiman had previously stepped down from his role in Good Omens following the initial accusations last September. Deadline has reached out to both streaming services for comment and will update this post if they respond.

Currently under medical watch as he awaits a new trial for multiple sex crimes on the East Coast, Weinstein was quickly ostracized and denounced by the industry following a 2017 New York Times exposé on the decades of abuse and rape he perpetrated against young women within and outside of Hollywood. In 2020, he was sentenced to 23 years in prison by a Manhattan jury for raping actress Jessica Mann and sexually assaulting production assistant Miriam Haley. However, an appeals court in New York overturned the conviction in April of the previous year, citing errors in the prosecutor’s decision to allow testimony from other accusers not directly related to the case.

Convicted of sex crimes in LA in 2022 and sentenced to 16 years, Weinstein, who is still in prison and reportedly battling leukemia, is involved in several ongoing civil trials and is suing the state of New York for $5 million over poor conditions at Rikers Island. A new trial date on the East Coast has not been set, partly due to indications from the Manhattan District Attorney’s office that more charges may be forthcoming against Weinstein. As of now, no charges have been filed against Gaiman in the U.S., New Zealand, or his native UK.

Full disclosure: New York Mag is owned by Vox Media, a company in which Deadline’s parent company PMC has held an ownership stake since 2023.

Similar Posts

Rate this post
Share this :
See also  Sammy The Bull Gravano Series Coming to FX! Winter, Fuqua, Kapital Team Up

Leave a Comment