Neil Gaiman denies sexual misconduct claims made by eight women

Best-selling author Neil Gaiman has denied allegations of sexual misconduct, saying that he has "never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity with anyone. Ever".

The 64 year old author faced claims from eight women, including an alleged sexual assault in a bath, which were detailed in New York Magazine on Monday. Five of the allegations had previously surfaced on a Tortoise Media podcast titled Master last year.

In a blog post on Tuesday, the British-born creator of 'The Sandman' said: "I’ve stayed quiet until now, both out of respect for the people who were sharing their stories and out of a desire not to draw even more attention to a lot of misinformation.

“I’ve always tried to be a private person, and felt increasingly that social media was the wrong place to talk about important personal matters. I’ve now reached the point where I feel that I should say something.

"As I read through this latest collection of accounts, there are moments I half-recognise and moments I don’t, descriptions of things that happened sitting beside things that emphatically did not happen. I’m far from a perfect person, but I have never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity with anyone. Ever.”

Gaiman said he had read back text messages from the time of the alleged incidents and felt they were “of two people enjoying entirely consensual sexual relationships”.

He said that while reading through them, he realised he “could have and should have done so much better”, adding he was “not as thoughtful as I could or should have been”.

He continued: “I was obviously careless with people’s hearts and feelings, and that’s something that I really, deeply regret. It was selfish of me. I was caught up in my own story and I ignored other people’s.

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