Three screen adaptations of Neil Gaiman’s works have been cancelled or had their production paused amid reports accusing the author of Coraline and The Sandman of sexual misconduct.
Netflix’s Dead Boy Detectives, based on characters created for DC Comics by Gaiman and Matt Wagner, has been cancelled after one season. Production of the third and final season of Amazon drama Good Omens, based on the 1990 novel by Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, has been paused, according to US website Deadline.
Meanwhile, development of a Disney film adaptation of Gaiman’s 2008 young adult novel The Graveyard Book has been put on hold. None of the streaming services has confirmed that these decisions were taken because of the allegations, but Gaiman apparently offered to step back from his involvement in Good Omens, according to Deadline.
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These allegations have been talked about for MONTHS now and I’ve yet to see any convincing evidence of wrongdoing. Potential victims should absolutely have their voices heard, but I’d like facts over emotions. All I’ve seen is he said/she said about this whole situation.
Here’s the easy first check to tell if claims are legit: specificity. If the supposed victim can’t tell anyone how the abuse happened, you’re looking at DARVO nine times out of ten. Mind you recounting abuse can be very difficult, but it’s absolutely vital to tell a story about what happened even if it’s only once.
Unfortunately, these allegations pass that check. There’s one woman who says she was pressured to give blowjobs to Gaiman or she’d lose her house, which he owned. That’s specific. Could still be fake, but it’s not as easy to tell if that’s the case as it is with a lot of allegations.
I share this information because it ought to be common knowledge, and unfortunately it’s not. Too many people out there falling for zero-specificity claims. We need to teach the general public more about fact checking skills.