Neil Gaiman Is Innocent: Too Long Didn't Read
There is a mountain of evidence and argument in the series. But if you don't have time, here's the TLDR in 51 points. Links to detailed articles.
Part of the reason it’s been very easy to deceive the general public about the merits of the case against Neil Gaiman is that it has a lot of moving parts. The podcast Master, which made the original allegations is over 5 hours long. My own series is the size of a small book and only growing. For these reasons, I’ve put together a Too Long Didn’t Read in the form of a Q and A.
For the Table of Contents with links to all the long-form articles, click here.
51 QUESTIONS ANSWERED
Main accuser Scarlett Pavlovich is on record effusively stating that her sexual relationship with Gaiman was entirely consensual.
Later, someone persuaded her to go to the police and pursue a court case.
We don’t know. But around the time she was with Neil Gaiman, accusations were made on her behalf by friend Misma K Anaru - despite Scarlett telling her she’d got it wrong.
After Scarlett gave an interview they dropped the investigation.
They said the evidence provided showed consent, and Scarlett has neither done or said anything that would indicate a lack of consent.
Maybe. It’s a civil injury case, rather than a criminal case, so it doesn’t establish whether a crime was committed, just if someone is due compensation.
It would be heard in the USA, rather than New Zealand where these events are alleged to have taken place, which is odd, and means the judge might throw it out.
In October 2025 the judge dismissed the civil case on wrong jurisdiction, saying it was improper to hold it the USA, because events are alleged to have ocurred in New Zealand.
Pavlovich could pursue the appeals process having lodged one as a formality when the case was dismissed. Or a civil tort case could be held in New Zealand, although she would not be able to seek the same level of monetary damages.
She accused Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer variously of human trafficking, conspiracy to commit trafficking, assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence and negligent infliction of extreme emotional distress.
Up to $7 million USD.
No. She came to the island voluntarily and was free to come and go as she pleased - and she did so.
Positive. We have the WhatsApp Messages between them at the time, you can see that she chooses to leave, come back, decide, etc. Also, she uses many phrases which sound nothing like a trafficked person.
Actually she was paid for her work at $25 NZ per hour. There was a small delay, but nothing unusual. Claims that she ‘wasn’t paid’ are false.
The WhatsApp messages show an affectionate relationship, with no sign of violence.
Until her friend starts throwing around accusations she seems in high spirits. If anything, the messages show that the fallout was distressing her, rather than any action on the part of Neil Gaiman.
No. She had an apartment in Auckland when she met Neil Gaiman.
Not when she met him and they first had sex. After that she later decided to give up her apartment and move in. And even then she appears to have stayed at Gaiman’s house only a few nights a week.
New evidence has emerged which shows that Pavlovich has an apartment for the entire time that she was physically present with Gaiman.
No. She was a contractor. The work was initially informal. She had the choice of how to carry it out and could stop at any time. And she did when she wanted to.
Also no. She was the Manager of Curionoir, an upmarket perfumery in Auckland.
In the WhatsApp messages, there is one mention of ‘not being on speaking terms’ with her father. But, there is no mention of issues with her mother, who she says divorced him when she was younger. She is not estranged from them now and she wasn’t when she left NZ at 16. Today, she goes on family holidays with them. In Master which was recorded in 2024, she mentions they think she is ‘seeking publicity’, which would indicate she was in contact with them then.
The accusation is ambiguous, because it fails to mention which family member hit her, and only 3 events are mentioned. Her mother is a lecturer who gives talks on empathy at the University of Waikato. Scarlett appears to have a loving father.
She left New Zealand at 16, not 15. She then attended a private school in northern Scotland until 18.
She travelled until she was 22, visiting more than 30 countries.
Some of those countries are cheap backpacker destinations like Morocco. But others are pricey destinations like Italy. In any case even travelling cheap for so long would cost a great deal.
We don’t know, but she comes from a very wealthy family.
It depends. Everybody is to a degree. But she certainly doesn’t come across as vulnerable to others. She is a headstrong, self-assured young woman from a priveleged background.
Some. Certainly some eating disorders like bulimia and anorexia, although she describes these as an affliction she had when younger that has returned. She briefly went into a psychiatric care unit. She sometimes has suicidal ideation, but it is circumstantial.
Yes and no. She signed a contract, which had a single NDA clause. However, it wasn’t a Weinstein style ‘Secret Settlement Contract’. These are entirely different and drawn up specifically by lawyers to gag victims in exchange for settlements. What Scarlett signed was a contract for services with a standard NDA clause. It’s in practically all work contracts.
No. Grooming involves the cultivation of an apparently platonic relationship with an inappropriately vulnerable person, typically a child but sometimes an adult, for a period before making it sexual. Neil Gaiman had just met her.
What sort of person jumps into bed with someone when they’ve just met her?
Lots of people.
She was almost 24. Not, 22 as has often been misattributed. She also expressed a preference for older partners and had other relationships with men and women Gaiman’s age around that time.
She has had multiple relationships with men. It’s entirely fine to identify as a lesbian for political reasons while still having attraction to men, and this is not uncommon.
But aren’t there other accusers?
Yes. Some of them have never met Neil Gaiman. Others never had sex with him. Others were in consensual relationships with him.
She was in a consensual relationship with Gaiman. She thought that it was romantic, but he didn’t see it that way.
She says that he was threatening to throw her off his property if she didn’t have sex with him.
She relies on inferring motives on his part based on things he said, but nothing firm.
Sexual abuse. There was also a real estate issue at the property, she believed he had promised her some land. The sexual abuse accusation could have been for leverage.
Wallner had been living on the land rent-free for 6 years, running a successful ceramics business, with celebrity clientele like Michael Stipe. Amanda Palmer wanted the studio back as a rehearsal space for the Dresden Dolls. Wallner was given 7 more months to find somewhere new. She had found a new studio and was moving in. At the final moment she decided to call in lawyers.
They are a firm that specialises in extracting large out-of-court settlements and take a hefty percentage. They pushed everyone involved to make a deal. Wallner would get $300,000, half for the real estate half for the sexual abuse accusation to avoid a lengthy court case. Everyone, Wallner, her ex-husband and Neil Gaiman were made to sign a real NDA, a secret settlement contract, as part of the deal.
He didn’t make her do anything. If anything, she made him sign an NDA by calling in the legal firm.
No. She says she didn’t understand the NDA, and her own lawyers forced her to sign it. Now she’s suing them.
No. She’s alleged abuse to the media. She pulled Neil Gaiman into arbitration over an unsubstantiated belief that he hasn’t kept to the terms of the agreement.
He responded to her arbitration with his own. He’s asking for the $300,000 back plus $50,000 for every interview she gave.
Yes, but they were college aged.
Did Neil Gaiman cause her mental health issues?
She was suffering from depression as a result of her husband divorcing her. She said that the attention ‘felt nice’. The fact that he didn’t feel the same way romantically may have contributed to her low-mood.
Caroline Wallner and Scarlett Pavlovich accuse Gaiman of initiating sexual activity with them in the vicinity of his son. This has been characterised as child sexual abuse (CSA) - this in itself is a non-standard definition. Their accounts of the presence of a child differ from platform to platform, he’s not present in earlier accounts.
They don’t act in ways that would be consistent with genuine concern for the safety of a child. Scarlett, when she gave a police interview appears not to have mentioned what you would think would be an important fact. Neither do either mention it to Amanda Palmer, or indeed anyone, for several years.
Rachel Johnson, who is former UK prime minister Boris Johnson’s sister, was instrumental. Alongside Paul Caruana Galizia she made and presented Master, a podcast on Tortoise Media.
She is consistently anti-trans, the opposite of Gaiman, and is connected with Julie Bindel, a prominent TERF who is herself friends with JK Rowling. She also frequently posts in favour of the genocide of the Palestinians. She is right-wing and tends to write for conservative establishment newspapers like The Spectator.
Johnson has written extensively criticising cancellation, consent culture and most left-wing ideas. She has also defended her own father and brother over sexual assault allegations. She also seems to have a fairly positive view of slavery. It’s highly unlikely she believed she was acting in the public interest.
Just appears to be a regular journalist. He’s won awards and he’s the son of the assassinated investigative reporter Daphne Caruana Galizia, who was crucial to the Panama papers. Why he teamed up with Johnson is anyone’s guess.
A new media company. They allow anyone with money to buy or sponsor a story. They recently bought The Observer and were the subject of protests by the National Union Of Journalists. Caroline Cadwalladr has called them out as an example of the takeover of media by tech oligarchs.
What about There Is No Safe Word by Lila Shapiro?
Came out much later. It is a well-written but heavily embellished account of the accusations. Self-contradictory assertions are copy-pasted as fact without criticism or question.
Are there other accusers?
Yes. One has never met Neil Gaiman. Another never had sex with him. Another received an unwanted kiss from him in 1986 for which he quickly apologised. Another’s accusation stems from a single event during a long-term sexual and romantic relationship, she recently went to the police who have not brought charges despite it being legal to do so in the US.
The Tortoise Media team themselves, alongside a small group of people connected to the accusers. Anti-trans TERF networks connected to Rachel Johnson, and also white supremacists like Vox Day and Jon Del Arroz, who appear to have disseminated it to a series of Incel, far-right, Nazi, white supremacist, antisemite and anti-trans harassment boards like Kiwi Farms.
Both. But far-right influencers have often posed as left-wing. Some appear to be apolitical and just enjoy public takedowns and are jumping on the bandwagon. Gaiman’s fanbase is mostly left-wing, but they are largely ‘downstream’ of the initial attempts to turn this into a viral story.
Why hasn’t all this information come out before?
Professional laziness. Personal cowardice. Collective groupthink.
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