Neil Gaiman may finally be facing consequences: ‘The Graveyard Book’ movie halted

In July of this year, two women came forward with allegations of assault against the wildly popular author Neil Gaiman.

Tortoise Media broke the news. One woman, Scarlett, accused the Coraline writer of sexually assaulting her on her first day serving as a nanny to his child. Another, “K,” began dating the mid-40s Gaiman when she was 20 and says she was subjected to sex she “neither wanted nor enjoyed.” Gaiman denied all the allegations.

Interestingly, this didn’t lead to the sort “cancel culture”-driven professional devastation that pearl-clutching misogynists always tell us will come when a man is accused of sexual assault. There was no mass cancellation of projects; for example, the 3-D re-release of Coraline still went ahead. But now, at a point where the total number of accusers is up to five, it seems Gaiman is finally facing professional consequences. One upcoming project of his has been paused by Disney.

Disney was previously all set to adapt Gaiman’s 2008 novel The Graveyard Book, a story inspired by The Jungle Book that told the story of a young boy raised by ghosts. Director Marc Foster was set to helm the project. But now, the film has been put on hold.

According to IndieWire, the film is not completely scrapped but it’s not going forward at the moment. “Multiple factors, including the allegations,” reportedly contributed to the pause, but it’s not known what those other factors are.

It’s worth pointing out that Gaiman himself had no involvement with the film—but nonetheless, his name would have still been on it. And while many of Gaiman’s works have been beloved for a long time, pausing (and possibly eventually canceling) upcoming projects sends the rightful message that sexually abusive behavior will not be tolerated.