Todd Heisler/The New York Times

A Minnesota legislator who ridiculed the fantasy writer Neil Gaiman has apologized for his intemperate remarks, but is standing by his criticism of the author for receiving a speaking fee from the state that the lawmaker deems excessive, Minnesota Public Radio reported.

Matt Dean, the Republican leader of the Minnesota House of Representatives, initiated the war of words with Mr. Gaiman, the best-selling author of “The Graveyard Book” and “Coraline,” amid a hearing this week over a bill that would reduce state financing for public radio and other cultural organizations.

Opening himself up to the full retaliation of the supernatural world, Mr. Dean singled out Mr. Gaiman for having received a $45,000 payment last year for a four-hour speaking engagement. Mr. Dean said Mr. Gaiman, “who I hate,” was a “pencil-necked little weasel who stole $45,000 from the state of Minnesota,” The Star Tribune reported.

Embracing Mr. Dean’s description of him, a self-deprecating Mr. Gaiman responded in a post on his personal blog, titled “The Opinions of a Pencil-Necked Weasel-Thief…,” writing that it was “kind of nice to make someone’s hate list.” Mr. Gaiman added that while he liked being compared to pencils (“You can draw or write things with pencils”), he did not appreciate being called a thief.

Surmising that Mr. Dean made the accusation because either he “thinks I gave the talk wearing a stripy sweater to an audience of people who were there at gunpoint and afterwards took their wallets,” or “he’s against the principles of the Free Market, and feels that governments should regulate how much people are paid to talk in public,” Mr. Gaiman said that he had donated the speaking fee (which he said was $33, 600) to charity groups “long ago.”

Mr. Dean told Minnesota Public Radio that he apologized to Mr. Gaiman at the behest of his mother. “She was very angry this morning and always taught me not to be a name caller,” Mr. Dean said. “And I shouldn’t have done it, and I apologize.”