# Neil Gaiman accused of being serial sexual abuser **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 5, 2024, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neil-gaiman-accused-of-being-serial-sexual-abuser/1003781 "2024-07-05T19:48:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2024, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neil-gaiman-accused-of-being-serial-sexual-abuser/1003781/101 "2024-07-13T22:47:06Z")
I know basically nothing about Neil Gaiman’s private life, but I definitely had the vague impression from tweets of his that I saw reposted and the like that he’s a sensible person who skewers assholes and supports decent people. Always disappointing when someone who seems like a genuinely decent person is revealed to, very likely, not be. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2024, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neil-gaiman-accused-of-being-serial-sexual-abuser/1003781/102 "2024-07-14T00:51:54Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > What made it an “underground novel”? No idea where they got that particular cover, but in your link Amazon appears to have it classified under “genre fiction”, not “underground literature” (which underground would that be in this case…?) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2024, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neil-gaiman-accused-of-being-serial-sexual-abuser/1003781/103 "2024-07-14T20:21:21Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Nothing makes it underground as far as I can tell. It was published in hardcover by a major publishing house. It won the Hugo, Nebula and Locus awards when it came out. My very favorite single book. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2024, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neil-gaiman-accused-of-being-serial-sexual-abuser/1003781/104 "2024-07-14T20:44:20Z")
I think it’s just marketing, to make it seem cool and edgy. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2024, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neil-gaiman-accused-of-being-serial-sexual-abuser/1003781/105 "2024-07-20T05:44:00Z")
I’ve been a big fan of his since BLACK ORCHID in the late 80s, and I hope this turns out to be less than announced. That said: Remember when one or two episodes of 30 ROCK hinted strongly about Bill Cosby, whose predations were kind of an open secret in the world of professional comedians? There was an episode of HOUSE where the patient, an underage teenager, claims to have been abused by someone who was clearly a cut-out of Neil Gaiman. Have these allegations been an open secret in his community as well? ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2024, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neil-gaiman-accused-of-being-serial-sexual-abuser/1003781/106 "2024-07-20T15:23:23Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > I’ve been a big fan of his since BLACK ORCHID in the late 80s, and I hope this turns out to be less than announced. That said: > > Remember when one or two episodes of 30 ROCK hinted strongly about Bill Cosby, whose predations were kind of an open secret in the world of professional comedians? There was an episode of HOUSE where the patient, an underage teenager, claims to have been abused by someone who was clearly a cut-out of Neil Gaiman. Have these allegations been an open secret in his community as well? The Bill Cosby accusations weren’t a secret at all. Victims had come forward something like 10 years before. The media didn’t make a big deal about it for some reason. During the Hannibal Buress set that lead to his downfall Buress told the audience “When you get home Google Bill Cosby rape and it will get more hits than me.” ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2024, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neil-gaiman-accused-of-being-serial-sexual-abuser/1003781/107 "2024-07-20T15:34:46Z")
We 100% heard about Bill Cosby in the late 90’s, but wrote it off as unlikely since no one did anything about it. And I was just a kid in college. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2024, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neil-gaiman-accused-of-being-serial-sexual-abuser/1003781/108 "2024-07-20T16:02:20Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > There was an episode of HOUSE where the patient, an underage teenager, claims to have been abused by someone who was clearly a cut-out of Neil Gaiman. What episode was this? ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2024, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neil-gaiman-accused-of-being-serial-sexual-abuser/1003781/109 "2024-07-20T17:29:03Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > Have these allegations been an open secret in his community as well? Not really but there’s some adjacent stuff. It’s no real secret he’s engaged in sexual relations with several people significantly younger than himself (though all over the age of consent, to the best of anybody’s knowledge) and that some of them involved a bit of a power imbalance, e.g. one of the accusers even in this case was a babysitter he hired. There have been some rumors (there always are) that some of those crossed some lines consent-wise or age-wise, but there’s never really been anything solid. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2024, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neil-gaiman-accused-of-being-serial-sexual-abuser/1003781/110 "2024-07-20T17:49:33Z")
The Cosby stuff grew over time. He long had a reputation as a ‘horn-dog’. Extramarital affairs were known. He was paying money to at least one mother and a child claiming he was the child’s father. When the first accusations of rape emerged people tended not to believe the wonderful family man from The Cosby Show had done such a thing. Then the accusations grew until the issue couldn’t be ignored. Despite any questions about his trial I recall clear evidence of his guilt. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2024, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neil-gaiman-accused-of-being-serial-sexual-abuser/1003781/111 "2024-07-20T20:19:59Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > There was an episode of HOUSE where the patient, an underage teenager, claims to have been abused by someone who was clearly a cut-out of Neil Gaiman I doubt that. > [@TriPolar](#): > > The Cosby stuff grew over time. He long had a reputation as a ‘horn-dog Yeah, that was known. But it was thought it was all consensual. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2024, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neil-gaiman-accused-of-being-serial-sexual-abuser/1003781/112 "2024-07-20T21:05:39Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Yeah, that was known. But it was thought it was all consensual. I remember hearing drugging and sleeping with girls and this was around 1998. I mean I hear the rumor 1998, not that it happened then. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2024, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neil-gaiman-accused-of-being-serial-sexual-abuser/1003781/113 "2024-07-20T21:22:01Z")
He literally joked on-stage about drugging women to sleep with them. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2024, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neil-gaiman-accused-of-being-serial-sexual-abuser/1003781/114 "2024-07-20T21:39:53Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > joked on-stage about drugging women to sleep with them. To be exact, he joked about somebody drugging women to sleep with them in [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FH7uDNR\_TBc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FH7uDNR_TBc) . ---
**Author:** ![Nicest\_of\_the\_Damned](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/8baadc/32.png) [@Nicest\_of\_the\_Damned](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nicest_of_the_Damned)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2024, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neil-gaiman-accused-of-being-serial-sexual-abuser/1003781/115 "2024-07-20T21:57:25Z")
I am guessing this one (spoiler: he was innocent) > **[Known Unknowns](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Known_Unknowns)** > > "Known Unknowns" is the seventh episode of the sixth season of House and 117th overall. It aired on Fox on November 9, 2009. The team tries to diagnose a teenage girl while House is away at a medical conference with Wilson and Cuddy. At the conference House finds something out about Cuddy. > After a wild night out, a teenage girl named Jordan (Anna Attanasio) is brought to Princeton Plainsboro with severely swollen appendages. The team must work to diagnose Jordan, who is less than honest about wh... ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2024, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neil-gaiman-accused-of-being-serial-sexual-abuser/1003781/116 "2024-07-20T22:33:33Z")
Have you watched the episode? I can only find segments of it on YouTube. I just read this in the Fan Wiki for House: [Known Unknowns | House Wiki | Fandom](https://house.fandom.com/wiki/Known_Unknowns) . It talks about a comic book artist. Other than that description, why do you think he’s a disguised Gaiman? ---
**Author:** ![Nicest\_of\_the\_Damned](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/8baadc/32.png) [@Nicest\_of\_the\_Damned](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nicest_of_the_Damned)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2024, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neil-gaiman-accused-of-being-serial-sexual-abuser/1003781/117 "2024-07-20T23:04:22Z")
To be clear I am guessing that is the episode Horatio mentioned. I have seen it but it did not occur to me that it was based on Gaiman. He’s not really on my radar though. I know who he is but I am not a fan (I hated his Doctor Who episode). Apparently we shopped at the same grocery store in Cambridge, my friend has seen him there. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2024, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neil-gaiman-accused-of-being-serial-sexual-abuser/1003781/118 "2024-07-20T23:07:23Z")
Yep, that was the one. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2024, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neil-gaiman-accused-of-being-serial-sexual-abuser/1003781/119 "2024-07-20T23:30:03Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > He literally joked on-stage about drugging women to sleep with them. He also talked about the concept with Larry King once. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/JtZwL4c2JYA/maxresdefault.jpg "Billy Cosby Talking about Spanish Fly Hello America") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtZwL4c2JYA&t=14) ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2024, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neil-gaiman-accused-of-being-serial-sexual-abuser/1003781/120 "2024-07-21T00:41:02Z")
Wendell\_Wagner wrote: > Have you watched the episode? I can only find segments of it on YouTube. I just read this in the Fan Wiki for House: Known Unknowns | House Wiki | Fandom 2 . It talks about a comic book artist. Other than that description, why do you think he’s a disguised Gaiman? I just watched it again on Peacock. “He’s the creator of Stiletto, the comic and the TV show. He’s a god!” They never said “artist,” but they never said “writer” either, I suppose. But in circa 2010, when this episode ran, there were exactly three comics creators who got this kind of rock star buzz: Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore, and Grant Morrison. (Brian Michael Bendis was a hot commodity that year, but I’m not aware he ever got groupie action.) Two of those creators are visually defined by exaggerated hair or lack of same, plus they had both cut back on their comic book projects pretty sharply by that point; Gaiman, though primarily a novelist by then, still had a number of high profile comics projects going. And while Gaiman has been associated with a number of comic book projects, he is associated with SANDMAN most strongly; Moore and Morrison aren’t that strongly connected to any single title. No other figure in comic book culture resembles that HOUSE character as strongly as Neil Gaiman. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neil-gaiman-accused-of-being-serial-sexual-abuser/1003781.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neil-gaiman-accused-of-being-serial-sexual-abuser/1003781.md?page=7)