Here's the story in a nutshell:
Neil Gaiman is a writer. He's a very good writer.
He's also a very entertaining speaker. He's so good that groups pay him to come speak.
He is, he freely admits, expensive.
A group who receives an arts subsidy from the State of Minnesota had access to some state arts money.
They offered to pay Neil Gaiman his market rate to come speak at a small library. He accepted. He did the job he agreed to do, was paid the agreed-upon price and, as it happens, donated the money to a couple of worthy charities. Everyone was, it seems, quite pleased (see "very entertaining speaker," above).
A particular Republican state legislator, however, was apparently offended by a talented and successful person getting paid the price he'd bargained for, for work he agreed to do, and accused Gaiman, whom "he hates", of being a "pencil-necked weasel" and "stealing" from the State of Minnesota.
Neil Gaiman delivered an epic, yet gentle smackdown: The Opinions of a Pencil-necked Weasel-thief.
Check it out.
Update: Said legislator has now "apologized for the name calling" because his Mama told him to. But he still has a problem with Gaiman getting paid his usual rate because, and I quote, "he's extremely financially successful."
Wouldn't Dean be calling this "Class Warfare" if a Democrat said someone rich should be working for free just because he was rich?
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