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When you said „challenged in America“ I was wondering if they challenge/ ban books in the UK, too. I can’t imagine, that they do. But I haven’t thought about it either…

Frasnkly I am against trial by media. If there is some offence, let a court look at it... otherwise it just seems like kink shaming being used a s propaganda...

There is a different between being a bit of an arsehole and being a criminal...we are all human and idolising anyone is not healthy. that said, innocent until proven guilty and all that.

Perhaps you could listen to your recordings and practice a bit / take some speaking classes - the constant "umms" are very distracting.

Gareth you are correct, it is a very complex issue. Both of your videos were an important watch 👍

Gaiman's behavior has been well known for *decades.* He has been banned from innumerable venues for exhibiting predatory behavior in public.

🥳🎈🎉🎶

Great follow up video Gareth! I also try to always see the best, and assume the best in other people unless something comes out to prove my assumption wrong.

I would listen to the 5-part podcast. One of the accusers sounded absolutely ridiculous to me and seemed to have absolutely zero credibility - a stance which seemingly the police had too. I find it very scary the way most people just accept any accusation from any random anonymous person as fact - they wouldn't do it if it was a loved one. So glad you followed up to give a more balanced assessment.

I think one thing we tend to forget is that what we see is only one facet of the person and not the whole person. We feel like we know celebrities because we see them so much in media but we aren't friends, we don't go to their homes, we don't see them behind closed doors. And no one is all good or all bad. NG definitely does not give any vibe in his writing or performances that he disrespected or hated women in anyway and he is a father of two daughters. I think from his statements he believes the activity was consensual, kinky but not assault. Still when the power dynamic is so unbalanced, the question of consent is a lot trickier. I think his art will hold up but his celebrity status could be irrevocably damaged no matter how this plays out.

I read a book called Monsters which was about the fan’s dilemma when an artist they admire turns out to be a terrible person. I find celebrity and fandoms fascinating. The book wasn’t as good as I thought it would be so can’t necessarily recommend it but it did raise some interesting points about art vs artist. I’m someone who doesn’t have a hard time separating art from the artist, and I don’t judge people who continue to read or watch or listen to work by problematic creators. It would be an issue for me if they were spreading hateful ideologies or ideas in that work, which is rarely the case. Morrissey is now a fairly right wing bigot but I’m not going to stop listening to The Smiths as they are more than just him and the songs are nothing to do with his current beliefs. Also when it comes to films, music and work where there are multiple people involved, I think it’s kind of harsh to ignore the input of everyone else involved. Regarding Neil Gaiman, I think your first video was fine and you were clear in the points you made. As you say these are currently just allegations, so we shouldn’t be quick to judge. Even if the allegations are true, I’ll still read Gaiman’s work, but only what I still own or can borrow or get secondhand. I don’t think it’ll damage his bank balance but it’s more about principle than anything else. I wouldn’t judge anyone who carried on buying or loving his writing. Thanks for sharing your own experience as well - not easy to do publicly!

NG has long time been my favorite author and my favorite celebrity and any time he has come to my area, I have gone to see him and the story came out the week before I was supposed to go see him again so the event was cancelled. I am disappointed but somehow not surprised; I know these are allegations only but I can't help but think where there is smoke there is fire. I have always thought he was more like a rockstar than the average author and quite often people start to believe their own myth and think they can do anything. I saw something where Amanda Palmer stated that her silence is to protect her son but that she will have material for years worth of songs so that is quite telling. I wish the allegations would be proved untrue but not at the cost of gaslighting the victims.

Ello 😂

I've read almost all of Bukowski and I think it's important to recognize the dirt side with the beauty in his work. He was an asshole but he was honest with the reader about it and that's why I love his work. I never read Gaiman and upon hearing the allegations now it keeps me from wanting to ever touch his work.

Off the bat: not having seen any of the Oscars movies is so relatable: I think the only thing I saw last year was _Past Lives_ lol (which was excellent, would recommend). Also, yay! Bruce Cockburn! I've seen him a couple times, and he's incredible 🍁. I think musicians turning out to be rotten would hit me so much harder, because I connect with music almost more than books. Something in the soul there. With NG, idk. It's hard. I listened to or read the transcripts of all the podcasts, and I think what really hurts is how many of the women were part of our community, part of fandom, one of us. I'm really haunted by the idea that if it's true, women he's hurt are here, watching all this debate, watching people defend him (not that you are; you've been very even about it, but there's a lot of that, and there was more in the first few weeks). I've kind of decided that if he gets the benefit of the doubt, so do they. The whole thing is so miserable, anyway. 🙁 I really appreciated this video. I love how open hearted you are. 💗

You are still allowed to like and appreciate his work you know. Adoring talent doesn’t make you a bad person.

Society seems to think if you are talented (which he clearly is) then you can’t really be someone who does bad things. It is always a problem when we ‘other’ people. That some humans are monsters/damaged/unnatural. They aren’t. They are people. They walk amongst us: the murderers, pedophiles,rapists, abusers (not saying he ticks all these boxes by the way ). We both probably walked past one of the people listed on the way into work today. We need to talk about atrocities more not less. It’s the NDA’s that get me. Basically if you are rich enough you can make a lot of horrible things go away.

I used to feel bad for not enjoying or DNFing popular books, but then I realized that I read for my pleasure, not for anyone else. Also, The Day of the Triffids is one of my favorite books.

I grew up in LA, I went to school with celebrities and met them at events, and I personally knew some people. I can say, no one is perfect. Everyone has flaws. But most of the people I have met have been very nice and friendly. I have never had an experience where a celebrity attempted to attack me in anyway, (though I have had several of them with men, none of those were famous in any way.) I have had three horrible experiences, where I really liked them on the screen or TV, but when I met them they were horrible. One was as a child, a TV star who did a show geared toward kids, I was waiting to be let into a taping of TV talk show with my parents and baby brother and this woman came out, No one surrounded her or said anything, we did all stare her, because she was very beautiful, and she snapped, out of my way you little brats. My Mom never forgave her, she wouldn't let me watch her ever again. I did watch her as an adult, she was a very good actress but I never had any affection for her. The second time, I was working on a movie, and the star was had just made two mega-hit movies. He was just such a horrible person. He wouldn't talk to anyone except his co-star and the director. Not even the crew. Later on I ran into him at an awards ceremony, he was very different, he recognized me and apologized, he even gave me rose, from a some roses that they had given him from a goody bag. I did forgive him. The last one was someone I really admired, I had watched her in movies all my life. It was at a celebrity autograph show, (Now I had been going to them for years and I really never had a bad experience with anyone I liked, I did with some people I didn't know and didn't come near they yelled at me for not coming to their table, not nice. But for the most part I always enjoyed them and had some really nice talks with the celebrities. Several big stars were perfect angels to me.) So I waited on line, I was the last person (it was a real long line and I waited over an hour,) she said she was through for the day, and I said, I waited for long time, she just rolled her eyes and said, she had to get something to eat, right next to her was a plate of food, she was eating from and I knew that they brought them food and drink as much as they wanted. She grabbed her purse, and said come back tomorrow over her shoulder. She was so rude about it all, like I come up and bugged her at the restaurant or something. (which I was taught by my parents to never do and I never have bothered someone while they were eating or with their kids.) I have never forgiven her, I can't even watch her in her movies or her TV show.

Oh, I agree that celebrities are real people. That's precisely the risk. I suspect that a vast majority of people, if put into a place of constantly being offered admiration or obsequiousness for their talent or ability to generate profits, could end up in a potentially dangerous place of arrogance and entitlement that in some cases, could lead to antisocial or even criminal behavior. So sorry to hear about the abuse in your family. I was incredibly fortunate with my own parents, but there was alcoholism among some of my extended relatives when I was growing up, and I can sadly observe some of the effects to this day. Glad you seem to have found some peace.

I'm loving those Ray Bradbury crime novels!

Hi Gareth. I didn’t think that you weee unclear at all in the first video. That said, I also appreciate your further expansion of your thoughts here about celebrity in general. I also appreciate hearing about your songwriting role models. Thanks, Gareth.

Hi Gareth 😊, I did watch your other video. You clearly said the accusations, but sometimes we can get defensive and lash out. So sorry that happened. I think you are amazing for keeping such a positive outlook on Hollywood & writers, famous people. That is a gift, don't lose it. The round table talks with actors & Live From the Actor's Studio are my favorites too. How I miss James Lipton and his giant stack of cards with questions on them!! On a personal note , thank you for talking about the Neil Gaiman allegations. I haven't seen anyone addressing it. I hope it is not true , but if it is it won't mean that all writers lose their way. But it is good to talk about. PS- I have heard John Mellencamp is a very likeable guy from people in his hometown in Indiana. XXOO

_Brain on Music_ and _Street Gang_ for me, so cool! My piano teacher told me that it's amazing what our bodies know automatically. I wonder if that foot tapping reference is somehow related to my teachers comment. Thanks for the list!

I don't think you should be commenting on something like this without giving some details about what he is accused of, by whom, and why you believe it. Otherwise it's a sort of smear, even if it isn't meant to be.

i never pretend i understand what is going on in all these peoples minds; i know lots of people have projected their shadows on me; and that is just the way of the aquarian power dynamics;

Well said mate! I’m also definitely not hoarding.. honest 😅

Bummer on the Gaiman scandal and how it hit you. I've never gotten on well with his work, so this one affects my own reading a little less. But how about a deep dive into Harlan Ellison? I'd need to get about a bajillion of his books to do it, but if you want something replace that pending Gaiman deep dive...I'd be game!

100% thanks for clarifying my thoughts. Great outro, made me laugh!

I have some collections going. I have… 111 Isaac Asimov books 145 Books of pulp stories of The Shadow 107 Charles M. Schulz Peanuts books

A honest, thoughtful and open-minded video Gareth! Gaiman is one of my favorite authors and I am shocked by all the accusations. I enjoy Lovecraft so clearly can separate the art from the artist, but you do make a good point about whether the artist is still alive. I still want to read Gaiman but might do so with a bad taste in my mouth.

I love collecting vintage books with awesome covers! It's fun to hunt for them!

Great video! I’m not a collector beyond collecting 1st editions written by an author I wrote about. Hunting for his books was fun. I’m still two short

I love Etgar. Check out "Missing Kissinger", I think thats his best.

I'm curious who you are referring to? Who is afraid to admit that they enjoyed something? Who mocks people for reading frivolous books? What do they want people to read instead, and why? I know you can't name specific individuals, but are these folks really common? I haven't come across many people like that. Maybe I'm just lucky?

Did you just say you’ve never read Harry Potter??? That’s what I’m stuck on lol separate the artist from the art or we will all be miserable.

I've never been a huge Gaiman fan. I've heard the accusations. I have no idea. Most of the time it's a "he said she said" situation and good luck proving it outside public opinion. That said, I can separate an artist from his art when the artist is actually not a good person. Not everybody can do this and that's ok. It's just the people who can't separate the art from the artist and don't want anyone else to do it either that can go %^&$ themselves.

It still surprises me that some people don't read primarily for pleasure and pick their books depending on more utilitarian grounds. I get much joy from reading Ballard, especially books like High-Rise, whose companion is The Lord of the Flies. The bleaker the better:)

I think what makes this more difficult is the deep humanity found in Gaiman's stories. It seems like a contradiction of the man and his work. I can only speak for Sandman- the only other book I've read by him is The Ocean at the end of the Lane-where every story arc realistically and imaginatively described human history. William Shakespeare played an important character in the series and although Gaiman's writing isn't Shakespearean, it did embrace his humanity and the intricacies that make up the human race, the good, the grey, and the evil. My favorite being "A Game of You," where Gaiman transformed a "barbie" character into a real life-like person named Barbie, who instead of living the life as that portrayed in the recent Barbie film, lived among the misfits and her best friend a transgender woman, Wanda (the latter was a radical insertion in mainstream comics at the time and DC got pushback by retailers and readers offended by the character). The ending to that story arc was brilliantly painful. In contrast to Gaiman I think of Norman Mailer. With Mailer the artist and Mailer the man there was never a contradiction, so there was not much surprise when it was discovered he had stabbed his former wife at a party (most of his literary friends, including James Baldwin and critic Diana Trilling, stood by him), and was openly against feminism and contraception. His novels are very much from the male point of view, with much machismo. I think if this had been Mailer, instead of Gaiman, with the recent accusations, it would've been easier for some to reconcile. I still respect the writer and admire Sandman. The allegations haven't changed my opinion about him or his work. I never place anyone on an unrealistic pedestal forgetting they are human just like me, so when anything unflattering or worse is revealed or alleged as in this case, I'm not disillusioned. The problem for Neil is that many of his fans don't see him as a human being and have unreasonable expectations about him. That's on them. Gaiman and the women were adults in a consensual relationship at the time. Gaiman has been cooperating with the police and they haven't found anything criminal. At this point it is delving into the sexual acts by adults, which are by nature complicated, intimate, and personal. When I was nineteen I was dating women much older than me. Not once did any of my friends tell me it was inappropriate or that maybe I was being taken advantage of. If they they it would've been insulting to me because I was an adult. If I remained or stayed in a relationship it was on me. At the same time one of my university professors was dating a classmate. Twenty years age difference. He was excellent and beloved English lit professor. The girl was a punk rocker. We all were aware about the relationship, even though they tried to keep it private, and were happy for them. They eventually married and are still together after 35 years. Whenever I've seen or read interviews by Neil, I never was led to believe his ethics and morality were above question. That's not what he was talking about. He never misled me. The mistake he made was when other artists were similarly accused he did come out strongly and publicly in support of the women who brought forth the accusations which has been fodder for critics who never liked his politics and books. It rightly makes him look like a hypocrite. But when he speaks and writes about his reading, creativity, and how he sees storytelling, he was, is, effective and convincing. Now, if it comes out one day that all his literary ideas and opinions were not his but that he plagiarized and copied others books and ideas and claimed them as his own, then my opinion about him and his work will change.

Something completely different. Just a quick question because I don't remember, but did you already talk about your GarbAugust Host recommendation? I plan to read all the host recommendations after August is over.

Your a contradiction. No you don't know how to seperate the author from his work. Your not part of the solution when it comes to whats going on in the mess that is the uk. Mister polite society😂

More social media trials based on gossip. And the only thing I've read is Good Omens.

Your video is misleading and you know it. You start with his name and a picture of him like he's giving the lecture. Also, from here on out, until the artist has been charged by authorities, stop with the cancelation. Good day sir, I said good day.

I've been a massive NG fan for years, and at first, I dismissed the allegations as someone trying to put him down. But sadly, they are looking more and more solid. As both an SA victim and autistic person myself, I'm pretty angry in fact at what appears to be Gaiman's arrogance. Will this stop me purchasing any more NG stuff, probably, and will it make me bin what I do own of his? Maybe. Though I can possibly separate the man from the work...Sandman, American Gods and The Graveyard Book especially being part of my creative life. It's devastating for fans, but even more so for those women (if the allegations are ultimately proven 100% true). There's a tiny part of me hoping that this will all suddenly be revealed to be a hoax, etc, but sadly, my gut is telling me otherwise.

Honestly, from everything I’ve been hearing, it just sounds like a private matter that I have no right in delving into. People are complicated and we all have skeletons in our closet - if we stripped that veil of seclusion away, I would bet dollars to doughnuts that we would despise every single human being, including those most close to our lives. We would all become misanthropic - and that seems to be on the rise for most people on the internet. In fact, I recall that being the central theme in one of Gaiman’s “Sandman” stories.

So sad to see Kim’s Bookshop go in Chichester. It’s been a regular haunt for me since it opened and I’ve picked up some real beauties in there over the years. On a slightly different note though it’s really great to hear Timeslip get a mention in this video. I used to love that place. One of the first comic shops I ever went into as a child so to me it always just seemed magical. Great to hear someone else has memories of it. Found a photo online recently of the shop exterior of Timeslip which brought all those memories flooding back. Did you also go to Mondo (for Comics) at the Tricorn a few years later? That was also ace. Oxfam books in Chi, as mentioned, is my current fave. Found so many cool things in there all really reasonably priced too. Always blows my mind how good the pricing is in there actually especially compared to other Oxfam Bookshops I’ve visited.

I do agree. Over the last 15 years it was hurtful to learn, that so many of my personal icons are really bad human beings. It's not about being flawed, because we all are flawed in one way or more. This is about being a manipulative sexual predator like NG, or hateful nutjob like JKR. I feel sick.

Tough subject to talk about and you put it all very eloquently - well done. I’ve championed some of his books for children as they contain amazing writing and I’ve taught with them for years. Whilst a lot of his fiction is hit and miss for me, what I do enjoy I love, like The Sandman, Good Omens and Stardust. But mostly I’ve always thought highly of him as a person because of his work promoting reading and libraries and his association with Pratchett. I’ve seen two of his events and they were special memories for me. I think what you said about reserving judgment on people and preferring to be pleasantly surprised when they are good rather than disappointed when they are bad is a great attitude that I need to adopt. I will continue to read his work but only what I still own or second hand. I think all women, particularly those of us who are somewhat older can think back to encounters that were at best uncomfortable or at worst assault but our understanding of consent was ‘I didn’t say no’. I’m glad we as a society have a better understanding of what enthusiastic consent actually is and these discussions are shining a light on that.

I don’t understand why whenever these discussions are had people even feel the need to mention J. K. Rowling… she has opinions. I don’t agree with a great number of authors and artists, that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy their work. You could try to make the case that it’s not the same, but really it is. Whatever damage people think she’s doing… It’s just in their heads.

Where is the balance between reading for pleasure and reading for education? I struggle with that. I often hear people say that you should read fiction for fun or to learn empathy, but I never hear people say that you have some responsibility to read nonfiction to understand the world, even though it's not always fun. I don't think I've ever heard anyone on Booktube say that nonfiction gives pleasure or fulfillment, although I think it can.