[ACML] FYI: Attendee permanently banned from all (?) Texas conventions

[Ken Wallen]

In your wandering of the vast wasteland of the intrawebs you may see
otherwise unverifiable reports that a person got ejected from Yulecon
in Ft Worth this weekend, and is now "banned from every convention in
Texas". In fact, as of Saturday it was true for (I believe) 8 of 20
Texas conventions (and I think 2 more in Oklahoma and Louisiana) based
upon agreement of a group of people present with sufficient authority
to make that call for one or more conventions. A couple more may have
joined the list since then.

It is my intention here to make the facts of the matter known to
prevent undue confusion and to give anyone interested the opportunity
to know the real nature of the risk being addressed by this decision.
The "rumor level" information is that this person was ejected for
creating a scene at the cosplay contest. The real reason is that he
was determined to represent an ongoing threat to the comfort and
security of convention guests from the anime industry, especially
those who work for Funimation (but by no means limited to them as
demonstrated by his actions). If you are a convention head,
safety/security head, or guest relations head for any Texas convention
(or any convention within driving distance of DFW) and would like more
information to act on this matter pro-actively then you can contact me
directly.

At approximately noon on Saturday, this individual attended a guest
Q&A which included four full-time and/or contract employees of
Funimation during which he essentially demanded to know why he hadn't
been auditioned or cast by Funimation for any of their shows, and what
he needed to do to make it happen. That's a very short synopsis of
what actually occurred, but I wasn't present for the panel myself.

After the panel one of the guests (who has a history of dealing with
this individual) expressed a concern to me combined with personal
knowledge of his history his attitude seemed to be antagonistic enough
that he could represent a threat to the safety of the guests or of a
Funimation employee present at the convention (not a guest). A phone
call was placed to Yulecon's safety head to arrange a meeting to
determine how the situation should be handled.

On the way to that meeting I was approached by another guest who was
very agitated because she had just been intercepted in the convention
area by the same individual. He had blocked her passage and encroached
on her personal space in such a way that she was backed up to a wall.
At this point he gripped this guest by the shoulders and shouted at
her that she "had the power" to get him voice-acting roles and that
she needed to do so because he is "the next Vic Mignogna".

At the meeting with the safety head we were joined by a third guest
with input to contribute. What came to light was that this person's
behavior to the convention guests at Yulecon was an extension and
escalation of an ongoing pattern of behavior at the offices of
Funimation. He has apparently determined that "being in the right
place at the right time" means showing up at Funimation's offices on a
regular basis and harassing anyone whose attention he can get, and he
moved to the DFW area from Chatanooga to be able to do it. He has been
known to loiter scowling in Funimation's lobby, been forcibly removed
from the building (by the employee mentioned above who was not a
guest), and has been known to bang on locked doors there and try to
force his way in if/when they are opened.

The conversation was sufficient to establish that he has a history of
stalking/antagonistic interaction with industry persons outside of
conventions. His behavior at Yulecon may have been his first attempt
to harass guests in a convention environment, but it would not likely
be his last. His actions were sufficient to annoy some guests and
cause a bit of alarm, but I have no reason to believe that he intended
violence toward anyone. That said, I have equally little reason to
believe that he couldn't represent a threat of violence at any time
for any convention.

The situation being discussed on cosplay.com and other sites was a
different issue. During the time that the meeting I've described
occured, this person was busy creating some sort of scene related to
not being allowed to present a skit (something related to registration
or sign-up for that option not having happened). After the cosplay
competition, a situation arose which led to him deciding that it was a
good idea to publicly berate the cosplay coordinator for some reason.
This is what he was doing when he was approached by the safety staff
for his walk out of the building.

It was at this point that the safety head held told him that he was
not only being ejected from Yulecon, but that he was not to step foot
of the premises of Funimation again, and wouldn't be welcome at any
convention in Texas again. What was said may not have been enforceable
at the time, but the process of making it be so has begun.

So far I've maintained my pattern of not "naming names" in ACML email,
but the person being hit with the multi-con banhammer is the guy who
goes by the moniker "Johnny Otaku" (i.e. the guy from the "Otaku
Unite" DVD). His real name and photographs suitable for identification
can be made available upon request to anyone needing them for the
security of their convention. I'd be pleased to see him blacklisted
outside of Texas too.

Thanks,
Ken

Guest Relations Manager - AtsuiCon, Ikkicon, Mizuumi-Con, San Japan
Green Room Manager - YuleCon