San Diego Comic-Con: Backlash Over Thanksgiving Weekend Dates
San Diego Comic-Con is gearing up to host this year’s in-person event, which, for the first time in its 50-year history, was canceled last April.
Comic-Con had a virtual gathering last July and has another online convention coming up this year, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The in-person event called “Comic-Con Special Edition” will take place over Thanksgiving weekend, Friday through Sunday, from November 26-28th. Comic-Con’s March 27 announcement sparked backlash from Hollywood, the media outlet reports.
Convention regulars question the timing of the event, with one studio source asking, “what actor or producer is going to give up their first post-vaccine Thanksgiving holiday with family to travel to San Diego to publicize a project?”
Another adds: “During the pandemic, we’ve had Wonder Woman and The Mandalorian, but what we haven’t had is a hug from our parents and grandparents. Talent are not going to want to give up time with their families at Thanksgiving this year of all years. I have no idea what the organizers are thinking.” Furthermore, in November, people may still be required to quarantine after travel.
The decision to host the event over Thanksgiving weekend was “hotly” debated within the board of Comic-Con International, without studios consulted ahead of the announcement. The group released a statement on March 29 addressing the growing pushback, but also cast doubt on whether the event will be occurring for certain:
“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. Currently we do not know whether having this event in November is even feasible as we are still in the midst of the pandemic.
Fans were also not happy about the Thanksgiving holiday announcement:
So they scheduled #SDCC on the same weekend as the first chance most families will (hopefully) be fully able to celebrate Thanksgiving in two years.
— Charles Soule (@CharlesSoule) March 28, 2021
See you in 2022! https://t.co/5TUS26rOsQ
https://twitter.com/ColleenDoran/status/1376056058037293064?s=20
Hold it virtually again this year and schedule the Convention Center in July 2022. Holding it on Thanksgiving weekend when people are trying to reconnect with their families after a year apart is just mean and tone deaf.
— Hope (@cputrbug) March 28, 2021
Feels like a cash grab. Thought you were better than that
