#the neil gaiman situation

[falseficus]

i don’t think it’s as simple as “stop idolizing celebrities.” like, I don’t think that’s possible, really. you have these people in your life to some extent. you are listening to them. even if you intellectually know that you are not really connected to them, learning that they’re predators is going to disturb you on an instinctual level. it’s not ridiculous to be upset. the situation is upsetting in and of itself. people being upset is not indicative of some broader parasociality problem

and I’m kind of baffled as to why some posts on here are talking about it as if it is. wow, im glad you were jaded and clever enough to not be fooled like the rest of us. its so cool that you don’t feel any sense of attachment to the artists behind the art you connect to. if you keep up this level of complete confidence in your immunity to the charms of bad people im sure that will work out very well for you

[almaprincess66]

Yeah... so with the improvemnts (is that the word? I'm not native english) in the Neil Gaiman situation I feel like I can finally say my unpopular opinion.

Good Omens was mid. That was the most mid show with the most mid writing I ever seen! The book also had insanely mid writing but only occasionally.

I have both his and Terry's works so if I wanna find out who's tone I liked I'll have to read Terry.

I will not be reading his books for a while if ever.

BUT OH MY GOD! I'M so glad I can speak now! I don't wanna be that person but I really just don't get it. What was there to like?! I mean the actors played it good and the concept was interesting but the actual writing was so mid it was bad! I was bored out of my mind!

[caspergs]

every time someone famous is outed as being a shitty person theres people going “this is why you shouldn’t idolize celebrities,” “why are you sad that a bad person is being exposed as a bad person,” like PLEASE just let people be upset that someone they liked sucks

[azazelsazaleas]

No, you’re not a misogynist for thinking Amanda Palmer is complicit in Neil Gaiman’s abuse of those women, nor are you shifting blame. It is very clear from the article that she not only knew what was going on, but was actively sending vulnerable women to her husband with full awareness of what he would do to them.

Holding women accountable for their complicity in crimes is not sexism, especially when those crimes are against other women. I can’t believe this needs to be said.

[hope-inthedark]

In light of the Good Omens production delay news, I just wanted to echo what a lot of people have been saying. I do not support Neil Gaiman, his actions, or his refusal to own up to them. I hope, for the sake of Terry Pratchett’s memory and also out of a selfish want for a happy ending, that the story of Good Omens can be finished without him producing the series. I hope they are replacing him as showrunner, and I hope that is the end of this news.

Like many others, I looked up to Neil Gaiman as an example of a writer who was unafraid to include explicitly queer representation in his works (among other aspects of his writing). I have loved his work for years. This news over the past few months has just been another reminder that a lot of men, especially wealthy white men in positions of power, can and do routinely abuse that power and cause immense suffering to others. I stand with the victims, because I will never defend anyone who has done the things he has done, regardless of how much I used to admire their work.

Anyway. Let’s hope that we get a good update soon. And in the meantime, let’s reach out to each other. Fandom is built for times like this.

[permetutotheworld]

hey so I’m 14 1/2 year old audihd girl(ish?) and good omens is incredibly important to me, the characters have got me through some really rough times and I’ve been watching and reading the book for years

I struggle with anxiety, depression, ptsd and obviously audhd, good omens is a massive hyperfixation of mine and it’s my main comfort media

but I’ve just found out about Neil Gaiman and the allegations and I don’t know what to do

all over tumblr people are telling me it’s okay to still love the show and charatcers but there are others who say I’m horrible for still loving the show and book and I have no idea what to do and I’m just getting more anxious, I’m terrified of being a bad person but good omens is incredibly important to me for deeply personal reasons,

so please tell me am I still allowed to like it

[party-lemon]

sick of people taking any chance they get to say shit like "this is why you can't place celebrities on a pedestal!" like i wasn't putting them on a pedestal, i was expecting them to be a good person, like i do with everyone else, and it turns out they weren't. and that fucking sucks. I've been in a situation where consent was muddled and complicated and mistreated and i sympathize greatly with these victims but also, people are allowed to be disappointed in someone they don't know when the expectation was that they were a decent human being.

[screampotato]

If you ever find yourself wondering, "should I get sexually involved with my employee/tenant/lodger/student/person young enough to be my grandchild?"

The answer is NO

[decepti-geek]

also - I know this is secondary to the abuse that actually materialised for gaiman's victims, but I've seen enough other secondary concerns being aired that I think this one needs doing too:

Talking about the gaiman allegations in a way that treats 'fans' and 'victims' as entirely separate, siloed categories is common but supremely unhelpful. Some of his victims were fans that he met at signings. That alone means there's no clear categories, however much you might want it.

But the additional point is - Well, some of his victims were fans who liked him enough to go to signings. All of his victims seem to have been young women. There's quite a lot of people who've been fans of his work and identified as a young woman at the same point in their lives.

There is SO much disdain for the fans who have been trying to process all this stuff on a personal level, even to the extent of insinuating that personal processing is an immoral thing to do in this case. But I feel like there is basically ZERO acknowledgement, so far, that for anyone who is or has been a gaiman fan and a young woman at the same time - processing all this may well include processing the knowledge that he would likely have viewed/assessed them as a potential victim, had they met. And some of them did meet him!

That's not nothing to have to come to terms with about someone you previously looked up to, and it's not something you can easily ignore, even for the noblest of reasons!

[empathicxo]

horrible day for white sexist men everywhere

[thetimelordbatgirl]

Full offense here: can some people stop trying to turn the Neil Gaiman situation into something about JK Rowling??? Seeing posts doing this in the tag has actually pissed me the fuck off beyond reason now oh my god, this situation isn't about the terf queen and the fact that some of you are trying it just to try and say she isn't as bad as Neil is holy shit in a bad way.

[almaprincess66]

Re; Neil Gaiman post

I don't think improvements is what you were looking for because that applies the situation has gotten better in some way which it hasn't

My only guess is escalation (as in, further/more intense things happening) but I can't know what word you meant to use im sorry

That is the word I was looking for!

Thank you so much Anon!

[forlornmelody]

Ngl, I'm scared about Season 3.

So much of what I loved about Season 2 was all the character development, the "filler" (minus a few moments that felt like unnecessary jokes, but that's a whole 'nother post.) How queer it was, how much it didn't hurry to further the plot like I felt like Season 1 did.

I came into Good Omens as as Gaiman fan, and as happy as I am that he's essentially no longer involved, I don't know what to make of the Pratchet Estate taking on a major role. Yes, I know TP wrote as much if not more than Gaiman when it comes to the book. But it's the show I fell in love with.

All that said:

I know David and Michael, the latter especially, took a fairly platonic script Good Omens Season 1, and made it very romantic.

I know they acted the fuck out of a Zoom call for three seasons and it's still one of the funniest things I've seen.

I saw Michael Fucking Sheen cold read an entire play for a 500 person audience. And he fucking killed it.

I saw David Fucking Tennant play a character that has been played countless times. And the audience still fucking GASPED at a key moment in the play.

I don't know the new producers enough to fully trust them yet. And that's okay.

But I trust David and Michael as actors. And for now that is enough.

[do-angels-dream-of-starry-seas]

And I've said it before, but it's worth saying again that I'm not gonna be affected by strangers yelling at me abt still being a good omens fan, and neither should you. I didn't know anything about gaiman before and after the show, I just like good omens and thats it. And s3 being fucked over by a piece of shit (after everything else that happened to me in 2024) fucking sucks

It's not even a separating art from artist situation, I just don't care and don't have to defend myself

[bonni]

the fact that gaiman raped a woman and specifically cited the fact that palmer didn't want him to as his reason is obviously a bad look for palmer, because she knew it was a possibility and put a young and vulnerable woman in that situation anyway. this falls in line with the general assumption we can make that palmer was widely complicit in gaiman's abuse. but it also does point to the fact that gaiman probably had a history of abusing palmer, honestly. that kind of intentional violation of boundaries out of spite/to achieve a sense of superiority is very damning. I'll reiterate, it does not excuse palmer's own actions and the financial abuse that she participated in.

[weirdo-with-a-potato]

Just a reminder that ne*l didn’t have much to do with dbda…our boys just sort of showed up in a comic he worked on and he didn’t do much of anything on the show…plus the sandman (both tv and comic) had way more people working on it then just him. Good omens (book) was much more terry Prattchet then him and the tv show is much more then just him. As for other works of his (ie. stardust) we just gotta suffer.

You can still, of corse, read the books but make sure to get them from somewhere like a used book store or lent by a friend. Plus there are always other places to read his books that don’t give money to him…

I know that a lot of people looked up to him and he helped many people to accept themselves and that it hurts to loose someone who you looked up to (I’m treating it as if he is dead because my previous image of him was brutally stabbed to death). But he is only a man and there are many other people in the world.

If any one wants to talk about this (wants to rant, wants to just keyboard smash in anger, wants to cry [however you choose to express crying digitally]) feel free to do so. Or if you have anything to add, you can talk about that too. I know writing usually helps me to get through emotions and feel a bit better. Maybe it will work for you too.

btw if you have any other creators who have caused a similar situation, feel free to talk about that as well.