SMOF News, volume 1, issue 52

A rising star can't come to the Hugos, a celebrity guest is removed from a con, and news in brief.

Double Hugo Finalist Denied Permission to Enter United States

Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki is a Nigerian author and editor, and a finalist in two categories in the fan-voted Hugo Awards this year. Hoping to attend the Hugo ceremony at the World Science Fiction Convention in Chicago (September 1-5), he was denied an entry visa in a very brief interview with US embassy staff. He described the experience in detail in a Twitter thread:

Printed my Gofundme page to show how I got funding, got a letter from @jasonsanford attesting to his help, printed statement of account, printed hotel reservation at the WorldCon hotel, printed invite from WorldCon. Everything was on check. Got there, they didn't check, any

They didn't check anything. Any of my documents. Didn't look at anything, ask me anything about the trip, what the WorldCon was, why I was going, where I was staying, how I was getting funded. Nothing. Nothing I saw them ask others.

I got there early. The interview is in an open place so I heard and saw the interview of others. Nevermind how off this is. Interviews in open space with people's sensitive info, account contents, addresses where anyone can hear. They only really seemed to care about 2 things...

Am I a student. That wasn't even a question. It was a leading, reaching statement. I am a student? I said no. Second one, have I ever travelled abroad? To the US? No. Europe? No. Do I have family in the US? No. & That was it. That was literally it. The end!

Ekpeki later posted an image of a further response from the US Embassy which states that the denial was over lack of proof that he would go back to Nigeria afterward.

Numerous US-based fans have written to their congresspeople and the US State Department asking for Ekpeki’s application to be reconsidered. Several have reported getting a form reply from the State Department stating that Ekpeki would need to present “additional, compelling evidence of his socioeconomic ties to Nigeria”.

Ekpeki has also pointed out that this experience is normal for Nigerians attempting to visit the US, or other Western countries (a group of Nigerian fans was denied visas to travel to Ireland for the 2019 Worldcon, for instance).

Celebrity Guest Kicked Out For Sexual Assault

Gary Busey was a guest at a Monster-Mania event in Cherry Hill, New Jersey on the weekend of August 12-14 right up until he did things which have resulted in multiple charges of criminal sexual conduct.

Monster-Mania has released a brief statement on Facebook:

Monster-Mania is assisting authorities in their investigation into an alleged incident involving attendees and a celebrity guest at its convention in Cherry Hill, New Jersey last weekend. Immediately upon receiving a complaint from the attendees, the celebrity guest was removed from the convention and instructed not to return. Monster-Mania also encouraged the attendees to contact the police to file a report.
The safety and well-being of all our attendees is of the utmost importance to Monster-Mania, and the company will not tolerate any behavior that could compromise those values. Monster-Mania will continue to assist the authorities in any and every way possible.

It would be nice to say that this is a perfectly routine story of a convention enforcing its code of conduct, but there are all too many stories circulating in fandom of cons ignoring such reports or actively covering them up. Kudos to Monster-Mania for doing the right thing.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports (warning: story contains full descriptions of the incidents) that Busey did try to keep this one out of the courts:

After the three victims reported the alleged groping, Busey at first denied to police that he groped anyone before asking detectives to apologize to the victims on his behalf and to convince them not to file any charges against him, according to the affidavits.

The Inquirer also reports that Busey issued another denial when approached by TMZ.

In Brief

• FOGCon, originally a San Francisco-area convention but currently a series of small online events, has announced its intention to run an online-only convention in 2023. It is also shutting down its existing nonprofit organization and hopes to find another conrunning organization to sponsor it.

Event Calendar

Weekend of August 26-28

• F-Con (59th Japanese national sf convention), Fukushima, Japan

• Bubonicon 53, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

• Dni Fantastyki, Wrocław, Poland

• Asylum Steampunk Festival, Lincoln, UK

• Eurofurence 26 (anthropomorphic), Berlin, Germany

• Camp Feral! (anthropomorphic), Algonquin Park, Ontario

• Furrydelphia (anthropomorphic), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

• IndyFurCon 2022: Furries on Broadway (anthropomorphic), Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

• Dragonflight Gamecon 42, Bellevue, Washington, USA

• FallCon 35: Return to Analog (gaming), Calgary, Alberta, Canada

• Tacticon (gaming), Aurora, Colorado, USA

• Epic.LAN Tabletop Edition (gaming), Coventry, UK

• Tabletop Scotland (gaming), Perth, UK

• Great Escape on the Lake (gaming), Bradford, New York, USA

• Draconicon 2022 (gaming), Tel Aviv, Israel

• 2D Con (video games), Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

• Kokorokon (anime), St. Louis, Missouri, USA

• Kazokukon (anime), Toledo, Ohio, USA

• Kin-Yoobi Con (anime), Union City, California, USA

• PopCult Anime Con, Waltham, Massachusetts, USA

• AniNite 22 (anime), Vösendorf, Austria

• HanamiCon 2022 (anime), Graz, Austria

• Stars of Time (media), Weston-super-Mare, UK

• Fan Expo Canada (media), Toronto, Ontario, Canada

• East European Comic Con, Bucharest, Romania

• Comic Conroe, Conroe, Texas, USA

• Everfree NW (My Little Pony), Bellevue, Washington, USA

• Power Morphicon (Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers), Pasadena, California, USA

Weekend of September 2-4

• Dragon Con, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

• CoKoCon 2022, Tempe, Arizona, USA

• San Diego Afro Con (Afrofuturism), San Diego, California, USA

• Oxonmoot 2022 (J. R. R. Tolkien), Oxford, UK

• Big River Steampunk Festival 2022, Hannibal, Missouri, USA

• Tails & Tornadoes Fur Con: Ren Fur (anthropomorphic), Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA

• Mephit Fur Meet 2022: Trick or Treat (anthropomorphic), Memphis, Tennessee, USA

• Pacificon Game Expo 43, Santa Clara, California, USA

• SaltCON End of Summer (gaming), Layton, Utah, USA

• Alamo City Game Convention, San Antonio, Texas, USA

• Electric City Dice and Cosplay (gaming), Great Falls, Montana, USA

• WGGCon (gaming), Croton-on-Hudson, New York, USA

• LincCon (gaming), Merrill, Wisconsin, USA

• PAX West 2022 (gaming), Seattle, Washington, USA

• Gateway 2022 (gaming), Los Angeles, California, USA

• TCEP 2022 (gaming), Sterling, Virginia, USA

• GrandCon 2022 (gaming), Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

• ConsimWorld Expo 2022 (gaming), Tempe, Arizona, USA

• NOVA Open 2021 (wargaming), Washington, DC, USA

• ReaperCon (miniatures gaming), Denton, Texas, USA

• Pixel Expo (video games), Perth, Australia

• SCG Con (collectible card games), Columbus, Ohio, USA

• Nan Desu Kan 25 (anime), Aurora, Colorado, USA

• San Japan 13 (anime), San Antonio, Texas, USA

• Tracon (anime), Tampere, Finland

• Anime Escape Fest, Grand Prairie, Texas, USA

• Saboten Con 2022 (anime), Phoenix, Arizona, USA

• Comic Con Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine

• Fanboy Expo Orlando (media), Orlando, Florida, USA

• Tucson Comic Con (media)/RinCon (gaming), Tucson, Arizona, USA

• Long Beach Comic Con, Long Beach, California, USA

• Robcon (media), Abingdon, Virginia, USA

• Giganticon (media), Killeen, Texas, USA

• Meta Con Minneapolis (media), Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

• Whooverville 13 (Doctor Who), Derby, UK

Weekend of September 9-11

• OutsideCon, Burns, Tennessee, USA

• Bouchercon 2022: Land of 10,000 Thrills (World Mystery Convention), Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

• Furry Migration: Galactic Space Race (anthropomorphic), Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

• FursonaCon 2022: Academy of Magic (anthropomorphic), Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA

• Impossible Realities #21: Damage Control (gaming), St. John, New Brunswick, Canada

• ZorCon (gaming), Lake Jackson, Texas, USA

• Ludesco (gaming), La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland

• Tabletop Central (gaming), Savoy, Illinois, USA

• Escape Winter Con (gaming), Orlando, Florida, USA

• Dice Tower Retreat (gaming), Miami, Florida, USA

• Sugoi Expo (anime), Orlando, Florida, USA

• Anime Oklahoma, Midwest City, Oklahoma, USA

• Arkansas Comic Con, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA

• Rose City Comic Con, Portland, Oregon, USA

• Colossalcon East (media), Pocono Manor, Pennsylvania, USA

• Power Comicon, Florence, South Carolina, USA

• International Comic Expo, Birmingham, UK

• Popcorn! (media), Rotherham, UK

• Ottawa Comiccon, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

• Elstree-Con (media), Elstree, UK

• Unicon & Game Expo (media), Minsk, Belarus

• D23 Expo 2022 (official Disney fan convention), Anaheim, California, USA

Weekend of September 16-18

• FenCon XVIII, Irving, Texas, USA

• 16. Elstercon: (N)IRGENDWO (N)IRGENDWANN, Leipzig, Germany

• Copernicon, Toruń, Poland

• FantasyCon 2022, Heathrow, UK

• Albacon 2022, Albany, New York, USA

• Furry Takeover: Alien Invasion (anthropomorphic), Fontana Dam, North Carolina, USA

• Furdance Budapest (anthropomorphic), Budapest, Hungary

• 8th Annual Steampunk Fair, Kennebunk, Maine, USA

• 32nd First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

• SIBCON XXVI (gaming), Butler, Pennsylvania, USA

• MegaMooseCon (gaming), Richburg, South Carolina, USA

• Strong Tower Gaming Convention, Brookfield, Wisconsin, USA

• B-Con 2022 (gaming), Northglenn, Colorado, USA

• Tabletop Gaming Live 2022, Manchester, UK

• ShireCon 2022 (gaming), Falls Village, Connecticut, USA

• Game Devs of Color Expo, online

• Southern Front 2022 (miniatures gaming), Morrisville, North Carolina, USA

• Anime St. Pete, St. Petersburg, Florida, USA

• Avalon Expo 9 (media), St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada

• AncientCityCon (media), St. Augustine, Florida, USA

• Incredible Con (media), North Charleston, South Carolina, USA

• Granite State Comicon (media), Manchester, New Hampshire, USA

• Edmonton Expo (media), Edmonton, Alberta, USA

• Fandom Kissimmee (media), Kissimmee, Florida, USA

• Extremicon (media), St. Robert, Missouri, USA

• Incredible Con (media), North Charleston, South Carolina, USA

• CaperCon (media), Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada

Weekend of September 23-25

• Necronomicon 2022, Tampa, Florida, USA

• SWFL SteamCon (steampunk), Ft. Meyers, Florida, USA

• PhilliFur 2022: The Cyberspace (anthropomorphic), Quezon City, Philippines

• Nuke-Con (gaming), Council Bluffs, Iowa, USA

• Enbicon (gaming), Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada

• Tennessee Game Days Fall 2022, Franklin, Tennessee, USA

• Barrage (miniatures gaming), Havre de Grace, Maryland, USA

• Recruits (wargaming), Lee’s Summit, Missouri, USA

• Hurricon 2022: Persia (miniatures gaming), Kissimmee, Florida, USA

• CEOtaku (anime fighting games), Orlando, Florida, USA

• AnimeCon Classic 2022: The Roaring Twenties, Almelo, Netherlands

• Anime Fargo: Magical Transformations, Fargo, North Dakota, USA

• Fountain City Fandemonium (media), Bryan, Ohio, USA

• MissouriCon (media), St. Louis, Missouri, USA

• NORCON (media), Norfolk, UK

• Suncoast Fan Fest (media), Palmetto, Florida, USA

• Spa-Con (media), Hot Springs, Arkansas, USA

• Comic Con Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa

• FanX Salt Lake Comic Convention, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

• Cincinnati Comic Expo, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

• Thessaloniki Comic Convention, Thessaloniki, Greece

• Retro Con 2022 (‘80s media), Oaks, Pennsylvania, USA

• Alpha Omega Con (Christian-themed sf media), Whittier, California, USA

• PokeFest SA (Pokémon), San Antonio, Texas, USA

Coda

• Why Were Rock Stars So Into The Lord of the Rings? (GQ, hat tip: Money Stuff)

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