Kulturkampf

[Potato]

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/mar/05/neil-gaiman-asks-us-court-to-dismiss-lawsuit-alleging-and-sexual-assault

Neil Gaiman has asked a US district court to throw out a civil lawsuit accusing him of rape and sexual assault, filed last month by a woman who previously worked for the author and his former partner, Amanda Palmer.

The motion to dismiss, filed on Tuesday, argued that the case should be heard in New Zealand, where the alleged abuse took place, rather than in the US.

In an accompanying statement, Gaiman said that Scarlett Pavlovich, the former nanny to the couple who filed the suit on 3 February, “is a fantasist who has fabricated a tale of abuse”.

Gaiman pointed to screenshots of WhatsApp messages between himself and Pavlovich – compiled in a package along with the motion to dismiss – which the author said “demonstrate, in Pavlovich’s own words, that our relationship was consensual”.

In the lawsuit, Pavlovich claims the abuse began the first day she worked for Gaiman and Palmer on 4 February 2022, when Gaiman suggested that she take a bath in the garden and allegedly sexually assaulted her.

“At no point did Pavlovich say or do anything that led me to believe that she was not a willing participant in the activities,” said Gaiman. His lawyers argue that messages sent by Pavlovich the next morning “demonstrate as much”. The screenshot of one message reads: “Thank you for a lovely lovely night ~ wow x”.

His lawyers also point to messages in which Pavlovich appears to say that the sexual relationship was consensual. When Gaiman confronted Pavlovich after hearing from Palmer that Pavlovich alleged he abused her, Pavlovich responded “Oh my God. Neil! I never said that … Rape? WHAT? This is the first I have heard of this.” In another message two days later, Pavlovich writes: “It was consensual – how many times do I have to fucking tell everyone.”

How has this situation even been allowed to get this far? 

Another career destroyed by someone looking for a payday.