Earlier this week, a New York Magazine article was published with as watershed a potential as the seismic #MeToo expose published by New York Times journalists Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor. Famed English fiction novelist Neil Gaiman’s bourgeoning literary legacy now stands eclipsed by the string of sexual assault allegations that have come to light.

In a full statement published on the 64-year old Neil’s blog on Tuesday, January 14, as reported by The Guardian, the author denied the claims outright. He reflected on somewhat recognising a few instances mentioned whilst feeling the need to assert how others were beyond his recollection. Either which way, the cincher of Neil’s statement, more so the wording of it, is what is now stirring the already torrid pot. “I’m far from a perfect person, but I have never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity with anyone. Ever”, it read.

Now while this appears to be a textbook retort to what could unravel his decades worth of work, the wording of his denial document is strikingly similar to that of shunned production mogul Harvey Weinstein.

Circling back to the Pulitzer-winning Twohey-Kantor piece from NYT, Harvey, whose rape conviction was overturned by a New York Appeals Court in April last year, had of course also contested the bourgeoning claims that threatened and eventually took down his seemingly impenetrable empire. His abuse spanning a period of decades, 3 to be exact, reportedly enabled the abuse and exploitation of as many as 80 women. Harvey’s first comments combatting a global meltdown and the eventual sparking of the #MeToo movement, also played on a similar tangent as Neil’s, way into the future, with the former film genie denying “any non-consensual sex”.

JK Rowling, who may have severely dented her own mammoth legacy of the Harry Potter world, too for once, finds herself on the right side of history (if the claims carry any truth to them). She was among the first, and sadly, only supremely well-known names from the literary world, to call out, not just Neil, but also the “strangely muted” reactions of people whose verbal support would significantly matter in a time like this.

Is Neil then Harvey’s successor when it comes to the hall of the infamed and shunned? Only time will tell.