Neil Gaiman Asks Court to Dismiss Lawsuit from Rape Accuser
Pointing to texts that he says reflect a “consensual” relationship and arguing that U.S. courts don’t have jurisdiction over her allegations.
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Neil Gaiman has asked a Wisconsin federal court to throw out Scarlett Pavlovich’s lawsuit against him, pointing to text messages that he says refute the former nanny’s “outrageous” claims — and arguing that U.S. courts have no jurisdiction over allegations arising in New Zealand anyway. In February, Pavlovich sued Gaiman for human trafficking and sexual abuse over allegations that she previously detailed in a New York Magazine cover story in which multiple other women accused the author of nonconsensual sexual activity. Gaiman has denied the allegations. In a motion to dismiss filed on March 4, his legal team said Pavlovich’s allegations were a “sham” and part of her “plan to maximize adverse publicity against Gaiman.” His lawyers characterized his relationship with Pavlovich as one that “involved consensual physical intimacy, not sexual intercourse,” and alleged that she “invented” the “sexual scenarios she describes deliberately in graphic detail” in the suit.
The motion to dismiss includes alleged WhatsApp messages between Gaiman and Pavlovich that his lawyers say show that any sexual conduct that occurred between them was “in all ways consensual.” The filing argues that the texts also reflect that “on many occasions, it was initiated and/or encouraged by Plaintiff herself,” pointing to messages sent after an alleged sexual encounter where she appeared to thank him for a “lovely lovely night” or described being “consumed by thoughts” of him.
Pavlovich has previously stated that she did not initially view what allegedly happened to her as rape or sexual assault, but that her perspective changed as she spoke to other women. She also addressed some of her texts to Gaiman in New York’s cover story; when Gaiman reached out to say that he’d heard of her allegations, she claimed that she was scared to upset him before reassuring him in a reply that it was “consensual (and wonderful).”
In addition to the Wisconsin suit, Pavlovich has also sued Gaiman in New York and Massachusetts. The complaints also name Gaiman’s wife, Amanda Palmer, as a defendant for allegedly “procuring and presenting” Pavlovich to her husband; Palmer has denied the allegations.
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