The Four Color Media Monitor

Author Julie Bindel at Unherd addressed the issue of how the mainstream press and entertainment industry was slow to respond to the sexual assault accusations made against the now disgraced Neil Gaiman, and just because he's now thankfully facing consequences in the court of public opinion and losing TV and film projects, along with any more possible book deals, that doesn't excuse the initial attempts to downplay the seriousness of the scandal:

For Scarlett, “Gaiman’s superfans somehow seem to think that they have personally been betrayed by the allegations because they see him as sharing their own tick-box ‘progressive’ values,” she told me. “It’s beyond belief for me that people just aren’t acknowledging that a man in his Sixties has admitted that he got into the bath with his 23-year-old employee within the first few hours that they met.”

Definitely, the muted response that came initially to the news is appalling, and while older man-younger woman affairs are fine in themselves, what's not okay is that Gaiman would just begin an [extramarital] affair so quickly, when it requires building a relationship to make it work, not just barging in on a lady's privacy.

Given the seriousness of the allegations made against such a famous author, you might have expected the Tortoise podcast to have been met with righteous anger. And it was. But not the sort that you might think. Despite the careful reporting — which includes regular reminders that Gaiman denies any wrongdoing whatsoever — many of his fans have expressed their outrage at the podcast, claiming that Johnson is a “Right-wing Terf” with an axe to grind. The podcast, they say, is an attempt by anti-trans activists to smear him. As Rachel Johnson tells me, “The trans activist lefties discrediting the podcast as ‘terf’ made by the sister of Boris is purest misogyny. It’s meticulously researched and it’s fair to a fault.”

Perhaps his impeccable Left liberal feminist credentials have confused people. A whole book has been written about how women-friendly Gaiman’s work is: Feminism in the Worlds of Neil Gaiman: Essays on the Comics, Poetry and Prose. The podcast also found two female advocates. One says she’s known Gaiman for 12 years, and that while she’s alive to his faults, doesn’t believe him capable of sexual misconduct. She says she would “go to the wall for him on this” and be “stunned if the allegations were true”. Yet the same friend also said that Gaiman has autism, suggesting that perhaps “some of his mistakes” may be explained by its contribution to what she called his “naivety”.

That she talks about “mistakes” nods, perhaps, to the fact that these women were all in consensual relationships with Gaiman. But to claim that he was “naive” is to disregard the fact that the vast amount of sexual abuse takes place within consensual relationships. I have heard women who should know better describe the allegations against Gaiman as “not really abuse” because there was no force involved, and the women did engage in certain activity willingly. But each of the women who has come forward about Gaiman described instances of coercive control.

What was telling in earlier reports is that, while a few of the relationships may have ostensibly begun consensually, it was after they began that Gaiman started to cross red lines and subject them to offensive acts. That's what his apologists are clearly unwilling to consider. And to dismiss these reports simply because they were first revealed by a conservative-managed news site is also beyond the pale. It sounds like some of the same crowd who attack J.K. Rowling over her opposition to LGBT ideology are among the apologists for Gaiman.

How did the big corporations who profit from Gaiman’s work respond? While Disney and Netflix quietly paused their Gaiman adaptations, it took Amazon until last week to announce that filming of the final series of Good Omens had been halted due to the allegations. “I may be cynical,” Scarlett told me, “but I don’t imagine that Amazon or Disney have paused production because they altruistically care about allegations of abuse. Amazon and Disney have likely suspended production because they are a business, and the only thing that drives a business is cost. This is about cash and not care.”

See, nothing's changed since the days of the Harvey Weinstein scandal and #MeToo. All that matters to the studios besides the dough is whether the scandal will lead to bad publicity for them, but all they're really sorry about is that Gaiman's past caught up with him. No wonder there's bound to be more sexual assault scandals where the mainstream are slow to respond, and even slower to acknowledge morality. According to this commentary on Arret Sur Images, the majority which is unfortunately behind a paywall, even in France and the UK, most businesses are slow to distance themselves from associating with Gaiman, and that's not promising either. The French-language Comics Blog had the following to say, which I've translated as best as possible, along with another to follow:

Since July 3, 2024, author Neil Gaiman has been at the center of particularly serious accusations concerning inappropriate sexual behavior, or more simply, sexual assault. Two initial accusations were reported at the beginning of this summer, before three others were added to these statements. The stories diverge overall, but still contain disturbing similarities, particularly regarding the influence or the balance of power that Gaiman could have used on his victims. However, it is likely that you have not heard of these cases. And not only because we, on the site, took too long to write about them... but also because the revelations in question were accompanied by a deafening silence from the major specialized press outlets, or even from the community of comic book authors.

Last time I looked, if there's one specialty site that still hasn't acknowledged the news, it's leftist Comics Beat. The last item they posted about Gaiman was from at least a year ago in 2023, and nothing newer turns up in the search results so far. If they ever do bring up the subject, they're bound to continue being very superficial and avoid serious descriptions, recalling how they reported about the disgraced Dark Horse editor Scott Allie. Towards the end of the French-language post, it also says:

However, if the behaviors Neil Gaiman is accused of do not necessarily fall within the realm of criminal law, those who understand these testimonies as a consistent series of facts will be able to attest to a recurring fact: the author clearly took advantage of his celebrity status, or a possible relationship of domination (with... employees who worked for him, or fans) to obtain sexual relations. There is also another question at present, which remains to be elucidated: the role of Amanda Palmer. She was clearly aware of her ex-husband's actions towards other young women (remember the "fourteen"), and according to Claire's testimony, she could even have pushed certain young women into the clutches of her partner.

Now that's a very serious accusation made there. I know some USA/UK leftists don't seem to like Palmer either, and if she was initially negligent regarding her ex-husband's offensive antics, that's appalling. (Gaiman was originally married to another woman, Mary McGrath, probably until the early 2000s. One can only wonder if his behavior played a role in their breakup too.) After this scandal, chances are he'll be single going forward for a long time.

Actualitte said the French-language publisher of Gaiman's books is also slow to move away from him:

When asked, Neil Gaiman's main French publisher, Au Diable Vauvert, shared its reaction to the accusations: "Stupefaction, we have no other information than the press." The publishing house has published some of the British author's greatest successes, including Good Omens, co-written with Terry Pratchett (trans. Patrick Marcel), Stardust (trans. Frédérique Le Boucher), American Gods (trans. Michel Pagel) and The Ocean at the End of the Lane (trans. Patrick Marcel).

The publishing house is categorical about Neil Gaiman's behavior, and tells us that it has "absolutely never" heard of any inappropriate gestures on the part of the British author. At present, the publishing house has no plans to suspend the distribution of his works: "He is a great writer of our century," emphasizes Au Diable Vauvert.

Well that's an awfully stupid way to respond, considering several film studios and publishers overseas have already distanced themselves from Gaiman. All they're doing is making clear Europe's the tortoise when it comes to morality.

Then, since we're still on the topic, while leftist Bleeding Cool finally got around to saying something on September 8, but, much like the aforementioned Comics Beat, their descriptions are very weak and ambiguous:

A spokesperson for the production would not comment for DH's reporting. In July, Tortoise Media released the podcast Master: The Allegations Against Neil Gaiman, which included assault allegations against the author. Gaiman has denied the allegations.

Just assault, and not anything sex-based? One could very well assume it was little more than a case of a schoolyard brawl. Well this is hardly getting anywhere, and some of the commentors noticed it too. For example:

The allegations have serious traction that goes beyond the partisan shiftiness of Tortoise Media. I feel if BC didn’t have breathless admiration for Gaiman we’d have seen a number of articles detailing the accusations. The more this is ignored on BC the more they become a part of the problem. I mean the Ellis stuff isn’t nearly so harrowing and it got covered in depth.

Considering what a leftist Warren Ellis is, it sure is surprising they'd turn against him over less. Next:

Nice of you folks to finally cover the allegations against Gaiman, or mention they exist, I guess. The fact that five different women are alleging sometimes violent assaults are details left for the reader to google on their own. Since you didn't even link through to Tortoise.

Other news sites, such as Rolling Stone, CBR, and the AV Club have been covering this for over two months. That BC has been pointedly silent on the matter, all while publishing gushing essays about other Gaiman projects, certainly makes your position clear.

And:

Ya know, we put up with a lot here. And I don’t just mean the barely functioning website, littered with obtrusive advertisements, articles that haven’t seen a spell checker, let alone an editor, and the constant padding of copied material that you have to literally hunt for the “new” information.

I’m talking about the constant double standards. The lip service to trans people when covering Rowling’s transphobia whilst publishing constant articles that are basically advertisements for any and every Hogwarts branded item under the sun. The articles about “Dave Sim’s latest outrage!” which are advertisements for the latest Cerebus comic.

And Rich, you love to tout how progressive you are. But you STILL use “identity politics” in comic books to fuel your unending hunger for clickbait. “Another Robin turning LGBTQIA++++?!?!” “Kate Pryde FINALLY confirmed as Bisexual!” “Deadpool being killed off to be replaced by mystery woman!”

We are not just a punchline you can exploit for hits to your site.

And now this. The enormous Gaiman sized hole in coverage. Yeah, we noticed. We’ve also noticed the continual coverage of Warren Ellis stuff, taken straight from his newsletter. But you drop the allegations stuff in the final paragraph to cover your butts.

I cannot believe that the website that published “DC Comics is Turning Dr Jill Biden Into a Murderous Otter” would baulk at the prospect of putting the reason behind the Good Omens delay in a headline unless they REALLY didn’t want to.

Also:

It's particularly galling coming from Flook, who's looking increasingly like the performative leftist fake ally that right wingers love to hold up as examples of "what the left is really like".

This is certainly telling something. And then:

What's with the overall silence on the Neil Gaiman story? That seems like the kind of gossip you guys should be all over. I've been a fan of that guy since the early nineties and I am done with him. Too bad about Good Omens but sheesh.

Let's hope this means people are beginning to see BC for what they are, just a bunch of left-wing phonies, and that's why, seriously, why trouble oneself with even clicking through to their site if Johnston and company aren't altruistic? That they refused to mention the scandal for several weeks, and even now continue to remain ambiguous about the details, is telling all you need to know what kind of "reporters" they really are.

On September 11, when Gaiman offered to step away from production on Good Omens, they repeated their fuzzy coverage, and more commentors had the following to say:

Is this the first time BC has even addressed the Neil Gaiman accusations?

Somebody else said:

If you mean by "addressed" "actually mentioned," probably. Rich is adding mendacity to his already poor writing CV.

Yup. And then:

I couldn't stomach watching a third series myself. But anyway. Instead of quoting what David Tennant said back in May, it would be something closer to news to report what he thinks since the allegations against Neil Gaiman have come out. You guys gotta confront the actual story of Neil Gaiman right now. You can't tell me that a comics industry muckraker like Rich Johnson can't find something worth writing. This is just weird, guys.

To which was replied:

It's difficult to be a muckraker when it's your pals. Apparently.

Well he sure hasn't set a good example if he continues to remain buddies with somebody that abusive. All this is doing is revealing what's wrong with BC, that they've never really been altruistic, and it's to be hoped sensible people will stop wasting time on a site that's more clickbait than serious news and commentary on the entertainment industry.

It's fortunate in the end that more press sources have covered the news on Gaiman's scandal, and most of the film industry's backing away from him. Hopefully, the comics industry's doing the same. But it's a terrible shame not all the industry's been altruistic about this, and that's why the problem won't be solved in a fortnight.

Labels: dc comics, Europe and Asia, history, misogyny and racism, moonbat writers, politics, violence