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When fan favourites fall
Neil Gaiman is the latest in a long line of “beloved” man creatives to have fallen from dizzying popular heights. Michael Jackson, Bill Crosby, R Kelley, and Diddy have all seen their reputations shredded, with each facing criminal charges for their actions. Fans have always a certain degree of peculiarities stretching back to the early days of Hollywood, though as Fatty Arbuckle and Charlie Chaplin highlighted going too far would lead you to both court and career suicide. Creatives have always lived in a liminal space between acceptability and revulsion; Michelangelo was almost brought to ruin due to his indiscrete homosexual activity, Socrates was forced to drink hemlock for corruption of the youth. What makes the 2020s deconstruction of male celebrity different is that the victims now have the narrative power to get across their voice through social media. Society cares, or at least pretends to care, about victims narratives, and social media has given victims new avenues through which to share their stories.
The Vulture article details Gaiman’s sordid acts against women, showing in graphic detail abuse, rape, and callous disregard for women as autonomous consenting adults. You read through the allegations and the writer pulls no punches. Unlike earlier accusations where the abuse was skirted over, Gaiman is held to visceral account for his deeds. It is not enough to know he has done something…
