Fan Expo HQ is facing criticism after several alleged incidents occurred at Toronto Comicon over the weekend of March 15 to 17, including claims that disabled attendees were discriminated against by security and over 100 cell phones were pickpocketed at the event on Saturday.
Comicon is a convention that celebrates several facets of pop culture, including comics, video games, anime, trading cards, movies and more. Various Comicon events take place annually across the globe, and they usually bring in many fans excited to celebrate their personal interests and fandoms.
Toronto Comicon is run by Fan Expo HQ, which is also responsible for the aptly named Fan Expo conventions, which function similarly to Comicon.
However, what should have been a fun celebration of all things “nerd culture” left many attendees disappointed and angry after several alleged incidents took place at the Comicon event over the weekend.
One such attendee is Keith Spider, a long-time fan of comics, anime and manga. Spider has enjoyed taking part in cosplay – which entails dressing up in costume as a character from pop culture – for eight years now and decided to return to Comicon this year in Toronto. Unfortunately, Spider’s time at the convention was ruined as he felt discriminated against by Comicon staff members because of his disability.
“Whenever I sat down or took longer to get off the escalator, staff members would come up to me to yell or aggressively tell me to move because it was a ‘fire hazard’ or would shout at me to ‘keep moving’ or ‘move forward,’” said Spider.
“There was one instance when a green-vest staff member scoffed after I told him I’m disabled and to stop yelling at me, only to proceed to yell at me to keep moving. This was with over a dozen staff members throughout Saturday alone.”
Spider says that staff members had closed off access to the PATH SkyWalk and denied him access to it without giving a reason. When he took some time to get up, even after explaining he is disabled, Spider was aggressively told to “hurry up.”
Spider claims that accessible entrances were not properly labelled and that staff didn’t seem to know that such an entrance even existed. Additionally, he says staff were “poorly informed” and weren’t sure what his accessibility sticker meant, denying him access through the accessible entrance and telling him to take the long way around.
Spider says that there were no seating accommodations and resting areas were not easily accessible. Only one yellow-vest volunteer seemed to care about Spider’s well-being, leading him to tears once he was finally acknowledged by a staff member. Spider calls this volunteer a “genuine saviour in a poorly organized and run event.”
According to Spider, this sort of discrimination has been an issue at previous conventions hosted by Fan Expo HQ. He said that at last year’s event, he watched staff laugh at a friend with a hidden disability who asked where there was a chair to sit on, and his friend group faced discrimination because they didn’t “look disabled.” Spider was especially frustrated that staff members seemed to prioritise strollers and wagons over the walkers and wheelchairs of disabled attendees.
“I’m not asking for much. I’m not asking to be treated like royalty,” said Spider when asked what message he would share with Fan Expo HQ if given the opportunity. “I’m simply asking that everyone, especially disabled attendees, be treated with basic human decency and respect. I just want to be treated like I matter, and not feel unseen and unheard whenever I attend your events.”
Savanna Forde is another attendee who was left upset after the convention. Like Spider, she has enjoyed participating in cosplay for several years and has made a habit of attending conventions like Comicon.
Forde was left disgruntled after her phone was stolen at the convention. She entered the convention concerned for friends who had their phones stolen but did not expect that the same thing would happen to her.
Forde said that her phone was stolen in Artist Alley, the same location where several other victims say they had their phones stolen. At one point, Forde felt that someone got a bit too close to her, so she put her hand in her pocket and confirmed her phone was still there. She moved away from the patron, but less than five minutes later, she realized her phone had disappeared.
Forde returned to each booth she had visited to ask if anyone had seen her phone but had no luck. When she began to panic, a booth vendor helped her call her phone, which went straight to voicemail – meaning the thief had either turned off her phone or set it to “Do Not Disturb.”
Forde went to the Lost and Found room, where there were approximately eight staff members. Rather than getting help, Forde says the staff members collectively laughed at her, even though she was visibly upset and in tears.
Several other attendees independently corroborated the claim that staff members laughed at attendees whose phones had been stolen, which could be seen in the comments sections of Fan Expo’s latest Instagram posts. Many of the angry comments under these posts have since seemingly been deleted by Fan Expo.
Forde said that she was told by the staff members that over 100 phones had gone missing at the event, and when she asked if they could file a report, they simply told her to check back in half an hour to see if the phone had returned.
When she checked back, staff told her to ask the Metro Toronto Convention Centre office to write up a police report, but none of the security members knew where the office was, and she couldn’t find it.
As of writing, Forde still does not know the whereabouts of her phone.
“I’ve already decided that I won’t be attending Fan Expo Canada in August,” said Forde. “It’s an even bigger event and if they can’t ensure a safe environment for a smaller event like Toronto Comicon, I want nothing to do with the next.”
“As well, [Fan Expo HQ]’s response to this has been incredibly insensitive and shows their lack of care for their patrons. Fan Expo Canada was always a fun event to go to but if this is how they will continue to run it, I want no part of it.”
The Brock Press reached out to Fan Expo HQ for comment on the allegations, and they responded with the following statement:
“At FAN EXPO HQ, inclusivity and accessibility is of utmost importance to our shows and is the case for all our shows across North America. We have a clear and comprehensive accessibility policy (https://fanexpohq.com/comicontoronto/accessibility/). The accessibility desk was clearly labelled and open during the entirety of the show for any of our patrons who needed extra assistance. In terms of issues of allegations of
theft, we did learn about a few unfortunate instances that occurred on Saturday and we acted quickly to increase security presence. Fortunately, some phones were just misplaced in the show and more than two-thirds of what was officially reported missing have been returned to their owners. This was not a widespread issue and the rest of the event continued on Sunday without any reports of additional incidents.
“FAN EXPO HQ has a zero tolerance for abusive behaviour, and we would encourage anyone with a formal complaint to contact us directly. We remain committed to providing a safe and inclusive environment for our patrons.”
They also provided a link for anyone who wishes to file an incident report or reach out to customer service.