Seriously people, convention guests cancel. Be it because of work commitments or personal reasons. These things happen. No convention ever says a guest is guaranteed because they are often booked months in advance and contracts are written so that guests can pull out if need be.
A con is great for the fans but doesn’t pay the actor/writer/artist as much as other work does. That doesn’t mean that it’s not great for them either, but we have to be realistic. Filming on a production would not be halted for a convention and sometimes it so happens that people have to pull out in order to feed their families, etc.
I’ve been at conventions where I bought my ticket months in advance and a guest I wanted to see pulled out shortly after I booked. I’ve been to cons where guests have pulled out a week before, a day before, or even during the con itself… Do I think any less of the person who has pulled out? No. Am I disappointed, naturally, but I don’t start ranting and raving at them on social media because something got in the way of their attendance.
Those guests that people clamour to see are HUMAN. Just like you and me, they have real issues, need to take jobs to pay their bills and feed their families, they go through illness and stress, they need to be able to put their needs first.
I pulled away from a particular fandom because of the crappy attitudes of certain people when charity fundraising became a competition rather than a way to show respect for the charity founder and the people they have helped. Judging by what I’ve seen this morning, I was right to distance myself.
I get that you are disappointed. I was devestated when the person I most wanted to meet at my first big convention pulled out. The same person you are now having a go at. But I had a cry, pulled myself together, and had a fab time at the con regardless. And I still got to meet them, just later than I had planned. One of their colleagues pulled out of 4 conventions I was going to before I eventually got to meet them.
This actor and director who you are yelling at over social media is a human being. They are one of the most caring, respectful, loving, and genuine people in a world where those qualities can be hard to find. When they tell you that they are sorry, you should realise the lengths they go to in order to be able to not disappoint you and that it hurts them just as much as it hurts you when they have to pull out. You’re in their fandom for a reason, you know they are the person I just described.
So stop having a go and start having a think about how your words are hurting them and others. I truly get your disappointment, I do. But lashing out won’t change things, and it certainly won’t endear you to other fans.
nalebrun.com 