Neil Gaiman has requested a US district courtroom to throw out a civil lawsuit accusing him of rape and sexual assault, filed final month by a lady who beforehand labored for the creator and his former associate, Amanda Palmer.
The movement to dismiss, filed on Tuesday, argued that the case ought to be heard in New Zealand, the place the alleged abuse passed off, moderately than within the US.
In an accompanying assertion, Gaiman stated that Scarlett Pavlovich, the previous nanny to the couple who filed the swimsuit on 3 February, “is a fantasist who has fabricated a story of abuse”.
Gaiman pointed to screenshots of WhatsApp messages between himself and Pavlovich – compiled in a package deal together with the movement to dismiss – which the creator stated “exhibit, in Pavlovich’s personal phrases, that our relationship was consensual”.
Within the lawsuit, Pavlovich claims the abuse started the primary day she labored for Gaiman and Palmer on 4 February 2022, when Gaiman urged that she take a shower within the backyard and allegedly sexually assaulted her.
“At no level did Pavlovich say or do something that led me to consider that she was not a keen participant within the actions,” stated Gaiman. His attorneys argue that messages despatched by Pavlovich the subsequent morning “exhibit as a lot”. The screenshot of 1 message reads: “Thanks for a beautiful pretty evening ~ wow x”.
His attorneys additionally level to messages through which Pavlovich seems to say that the sexual relationship was consensual. When Gaiman confronted Pavlovich after listening to from Palmer that Pavlovich alleged he abused her, Pavlovich responded “Oh my God. Neil! I by no means stated that … Rape? WHAT? That is the primary I’ve heard of this.” In one other message two days later, Pavlovich writes: “It was consensual – what number of occasions do I’ve to fucking inform everybody.”
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Nonetheless, in an episode of the Tortoise podcast through which allegations towards Gaiman have been first revealed, Pavlovich stated that the messages “are actually arduous for me to undergo due to, you understand, my delusion. I’m so livid with myself”.
In Tuesday’s supporting temporary, Gaiman’s attorneys write that Pavlovich’s claims are a “sham”, and that the fits are the “end result” of Pavlovich’s “plan to maximise antagonistic publicity” towards the creator. “In no unsure phrases, Pavlovich’s accusations are false. The sexual eventualities she describes intentionally in graphic element are invented.”
9 girls have now accused Gaiman of sexual misconduct, eight of whom have been interviewed for a New York Journal piece printed on 13 January. The next day, Gaiman printed an announcement on his web site stating that he had “by no means engaged in non-consensual sexual exercise with anybody. Ever.”
Pavlovich filed her lawsuit to district courts in Wisconsin, New York and Massachusetts; Gaiman filed the movement to dismiss in Wisconsin. Together with the allegations towards Gaiman himself, the lawsuit accuses Palmer of human trafficking and negligence – claims which Palmer denied final month.
In November 2022, Palmer and Gaiman introduced that that they had determined to divorce. In an announcement made in January this 12 months, Palmer stated that she was unable to touch upon the allegations towards Gaiman due to custody and divorce proceedings, however a consultant informed NME that she “is profoundly disturbed” by the allegations towards him.
Pavlovich didn’t reply to a Guardian request for remark made by way of her attorneys.
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