Gaiman takes aim at 'weasel' comments

Posted at 1:29 PM on May 4, 2011 by Tom Scheck (4 Comments)
Filed under: MN Legislature, Mark Dayton

Prominent author Neil Gaiman is taking issue with comments Minnesota House Majority Leader Matt Dean made about him in this morning's Star Tribune. The story focused on efforts by House Republicans to change how Legacy funds are distributed (note: MPR receives Legacy Fund money and would be impacted by the change).

"Dean also singled out a $45,000 payment of Legacy money that was made last year to science fiction writer Neil Gaiman for a four-hour speaking appearance. Dean said that Gaiman, "who I hate," was a "pencil-necked little weasel who stole $45,000 from the state of Minnesota."

Dean said it was legal for the sci-fi writer to take the money but said Gaiman should give it back.

Those comments prompted Gaiman to shoot back on Twitter.

"Sad & funny. Minnesota Republicans have a "hate" list. Like Nixon did. I'm on it. They also don't like capitalism," Gaiman wrote in one tweet.

"It's strange watching a grownup high school bully in power. But the bully vocabulary remains the same," Gaiman wrote in another.

"Any nice, sane Minnesota Republicans reading this, please vote for someone who isn't a bully with a hate list next time," Gaiman wrote in another.

Gaiman has 1.5 million followers on Twitter. He directed them to visit Dean's blog, which apparently crashed the site.

"Bugger. Did not mean to #neilwebfail the twit's site. Sorry," Gaiman wrote.

Dean was not available to discuss Gaiman's comments with MPR.

Comments (4)

Stay classy, Rep. Dean!

Posted by Ryan | May 4, 2011 1:52 PM

Perhap's Rep. Dean should have read Gaiman's blog post from May 2010 before commenting...

http://bit.ly/lMxsWQ

Posted by Cary | May 4, 2011 3:32 PM

Capitalism and the Free Market are supposed to be the foundation of Republican thinking, yet a man who charges an amount that makes it worth his while to drop everything and appear and speak someplace gets called names by Rep. Dean. More Republican hypocrisy, as if more were needed, to show that our current majority legislators are nothing but bullies whose commitment to principle is weak.

Posted by Albatross | May 4, 2011 7:34 PM

Worth noting that Gaiman gave his fee to charities long long ago...

Posted by NIck Smith | May 19, 2011 1:33 AM

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