Comic Con Addresses Thanksgiving Event Backlash in Official Statement

Comic Con International, parent company behind large-scale pop culture events like WonderCon and San Diego Comic Con (among others), has responded to the very loud backlash from fans, attendees, artists, and vendors regarding their Thanksgiving weekend 2021 event announcement.

San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) made the call to again cancel their in person event, due to ongoing pandemic concerns (and logistics). SDCC was scheduled to take place over the traditional dates in mid July at the San Diego Convention Center, which will soon be used as emergency temporary housing for unaccompanied migrant minors. Instead, there will be another SDCC At Home virtual event, made up of panels, interviews, and shopping.

And, a brand new three-day event taking place over Thanksgiving weekend in 2021 which was announced over the weekend.

The response was fairly negative- fans questioning the logic behind hosting an event during a holiday weekend. Specifically, a holiday weekend that may finally see families being able to visit in person for the first time since 2019 because of current positive trends in mass vaccinations.

CCI issued a new statement via their official website about this very thing, explaining more of their reasoning behind picking that particular weekend. You can read it here, or continue below:

UPDATED STATEMENT REGARDING
COMIC-CON SPECIAL EDITION

Our decision to hold an in-person event in 2021 was driven by a number of factors. Our primary hope was to be able to gather in-person as a community, something we have not been able to do since early last year. Another was to try to determine how best to effectively and safely produce events in light of current health concerns with the least negative impact on attendees.

As conventions and events have had to cancel their in-person shows or have converted to virtual formats during the pandemic, some have been postponed to later years while others have been rescheduled to the later part of 2021, resulting in a very packed Convention Center calendar. When reviewing dates for an in-person event, it was clear that available meeting and exhibit space would limit our options. Of the dates presented with the fewest restrictions, Friday through Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend seemed to be the best balance of available space and our envisioned event. As longtime fans ourselves, we have attended many conventions over that holiday weekend, opting to spend Thanksgiving day with family and the rest of the weekend with friends and our families of choice. While this is not unusual in the convention trade, we understand this choice is not optimal for everyone.

Comic-Con Special Edition was never intended to be the large gathering reflective of the summer event. As a shorter event, it was our attempt to start slowly and cautiously while at the same time addressing the desire from fans to have an in-person show. There are still many factors that are unknown to us at this time, including space accommodations, travel restrictions, capacity restrictions, and required safety protocols. While open to all and with the hope that we will be able to accommodate fans from all over, we understand that due to potential travel-based restrictions and challenges, Comic-Con Special Edition may be an event attended mostly by fans more easily able to travel to San Diego. 

Currently we do not know whether having this event in November is even feasible as we are still in the midst of the pandemic and while we are optimistic about Q4, we have not been privy to any specific information on large gatherings. However, it was our desire to have something in place for our fans who have longed for an in-person event. We truly hope that you will join us for this entry back into the world of in-person celebrations of the community we so love.

Obviously, we’re keeping an eye on this situation.