Neil Gaiman personally stepped into the war over funding for public broadcasting earlier today, tweeting that he had been put on the Minnesota Republican Party's "Hate List": “Sad & funny,” Gaiman said. “Minnesota Republicans have a "hate" list. Like Nixon did. I'm on it. They also don't like capitalism.” Gaiman then links to an article by the Minneapolis StarTribune concerning the current debate over funding for public broadcasting, where Minnesota House Majority Leader Matt Dean—who took issue with a payment made to Gaiman for a four-hour speaking event at a local library—said that Gaiman, “who I hate,” is a "pencil-necked little weasel who stole $45,000 from the state of Minnesota."
It’s not the first time the event has been singled out: Gaiman blogged about being used as a “political football” nearly a year ago, and at the time mentioned that he’d donated most of the money to charity. Nevertheless, it apparently continues to be an issue—although Gaiman should take some comfort that, really, he’s only on one Republican’s “hate list” so far. And of course, Dean’s appraisal of his neck is the sort of ad hominem attack that doesn’t really count as political discourse.
In response, Dean has apparently reposted Gaiman's blog on his own site with his own spin on the situation—even claiming copyright on it, according to Gaiman. Unfortunately, the site has since become overwhelmed with traffic, as Gaiman’s million-plus followers cause it to “#neilwebfail,” as he puts it, meaning we’ll have to check back later to see how this develops.