Larry Correia is one of the most successful authors in genre fiction today, yet when he is invited to speak at an event, he’s often met with a cry bully attempting to cancel his appearance.
The most recent cancelation attempt comes from an announcement MarsCon in Virginia Beach made, which lists Correia as their Guest of Honor for 2024.
Joel Lyons, the 2024 MarsCon ConChair announced in the convention’s public Facebook group, “I am proud to announce the Writer Guest of Honor Larry Correia. Larry Correia is a New York Times bestselling author best known for his Monster Hunter International urban fantasy series, the Saga of the Forgotten Warrior epic fantasy series, the Grimnoir Chronicles alternate history trilogy, the Dead Six military thrillers, and the sci-fi Gun Runner.”
He added, “He’s also written over sixty pieces of shorter fiction, many of which are included in his Target Rich Environment collections, and he has edited three anthologies. He lives in Yard Moose Mountain, Utah with his wife, children, and fearsome Krasnovian Waffle Hound.”
“I have personally worked with Larry in the past and know he is an absolute hoot to have as an convention guest,” he concluded.
Shortly after the announcement, Madison Metricula Roberts, a woman who has been accused of harassing conservative and libertarian authors before, replied, stating her concern for Correia’s appearance.
“I don’t think he’s an appropriate choice given the usual tone and inclusiveness of MarsCon,” she wrote.
At one point Roberts informed Lyons, “I think the combative language and behavior of some folks in this discussion compared to others illustrates the additional moderation that may be needed leading up to and at the event to make sure people feel comfortable.”
She added, “Moderation and curation of expectations isn’t censorship; it’s how we share spaces or decided which spaces feel comfortable/safe or not at any given time. I think it’s good to be talking about this and taking the temperature.”
In another post she wrote, “it might be a good time to make sure things like harassment, diversity, and safety policies are up to date and easy to find, and decide if you’d like to take public feedback or anything (if needed; Y’all may decide it may not be).”
Correia defended himself on the post writing to one individual who was also defending him, “Personally I’m actually more libertarian than anything, though I’m a registered Republican because I live in a one party state and that’s where the action is.”
“I’m not racist or sexist. I don’t give a crap what other consenting adults choose to do with each other. I’m an individualist,” he continued.
In another post he wrote, “Hey Joel Lyons, will admit that I snort laughed at the bits about how I make the guests unsafe, since the last con I was at with you guys I got called out by the con committee… for helping one of the guests through a medical emergency. (and I didn’t even tell anybody until you guys brought it up during closing ceremonies)”
He added, “But, just in case, you guys could probably fabricate a tiger cage to wheel me around in and I could wear a Hannibal Lecter mask.”
After a back-and-forth with several of Correia’s fans on the thread, Roberts followed up by sending the convention a lengthy e-mail requesting his appearance be canceled beginning with:
MarsCon Con Chair and Staff:
I would like to alert you to Larry Correia’s violation of the MarsCon Harassment Policy and Code of Conduct as written and as I interpret it.
I am requesting it to be reviewed via this official channel outlined in the policy.
Roberts accuses Correia of violating their Code of Conduct, claiming his response to her trying to cancel him was “harassment.” She appears to have no self-awareness that she was trying to harass him out of the convention. The tactic of attacking someone publicly and then claiming harassment upon reply has been one used many times over the years by people trying to cancel right-leaning artistic creators.
The convention gave Correia the e-mail to make him aware of the situation, and he responded by tearing apart Roberts’ claims, and then publicly posting the e-mail he sent to the convention so people could be aware of the situation.
Correia stated in his response that he would “demonstrate that Madison knew exactly what she was doing, and despite her claims to the contrary, she was attempting to stir up outrage in order to get me disinvited Because she and her friends have done it before and will probably continue to do so in the future to other authors as long as cons keep folding and giving them what they want.”
He added, “Madison portrays herself as a victim. She is not. She is an accuser. We have the right to face our accusers.”
He then noted that in her email, Roberts claims that “Mr. Correia has not treated me with ‘common courtesy’ as referenced in the Harassment policy, becoming hostile immediately in response to my criticism of the Con Chair’s choice to promote him as a Guest of Honor.”
Correia invites his readers to view the thread for themselves before pointing out Roberts’ comment claiming he was an “inappropriate choice.”
He then points out, “As you’ll see, Madison and her friends love to toss out loaded terms which are in common colloquial use today for sexists, racists, homophobes, anti-Semitics, bigots, etc. but the clever ones never actually come right out and say it. They gleefully dance up to the line on harassment policies to annoy their targets, hoping to goad their targets into an angry response so that they can then cry about civility and ‘tone’.”
He further highlighted the double-standard by which left-wing cry bullies operate writing, “Madison [Roberts] means she and her friends are able to speak their opinions in public. When me and my fans do it we are uncivil and rude. They can say whatever they want about me, that’s cool, but if I ask for evidence of their allegations that’s harassment.”
Correia also unearthed a post Roberts made in 2018, where she worked with a mob to cancel another conservative author John Ringo.
She posted, “I regret that I am no longer attending or performing at ConCarolinas. I wish the event, guests, attendees, and volunteers well! While I have confidence in ConCarolina’s commitment to safety at the event, I still have concerns about comfort, safety, and response of the con in light of recent events.”
Roberts has a pattern of attacking her political opponents in the arts and trying to get conventions to remove them. Unfortunately, in 2018, ConCarolinas listened to Roberts and her friends and successfully had Ringo removed.
Conventions appear to be savvier now about these situations than they were a few years ago. A mob canceled Correia’s Origins: Game Fair appearance in 2018, but FenCon was hit with similar attacks in 2022 and ignored them.
In fact, Correia referenced FenCon at the conclusion of his line by line takedown of Roberts’ email. “They’ve tried this for the last few cons I went to,” Correia wrote. “They tried this same exact thing last year when I was the GoH at FenCon. Same thing. Some vague complaints about feeling unsafe. Some outrage. Dire predictions of danger and craziness. About five to ten listless angry types posting lots. And don’t worry, up next in the cycle if you don’t cave, will come the very dramatic flouncing, as those five to ten people very loudly and publicly declare that they simply cannot attend any event which would host such a monster with all his disgusting yet unspecified ideas.”
“Then FenCon had huge attendance, everybody had a great time, we quadrupled their charity auction, and nobody missed the handful of people who threw the big foot stompy tantrum about me being there,” he noted.
He concluded by issuing a warning to MarsCon, “If you guys decide to boot me over my tone, cool. Just be aware, that won’t satisfy them. You’ve paid the Danegeld. If you want to keep me as GoH, also cool. We’ll have fun. Your call.”
As of this writing, MarsCon has not removed Correia from its programming. Correia’s fans have been posting in droves stating their intent to come to support the convention. Refusing to bow to pressure from the cancel mob appears to pay off for those brave enough to ignore the woke police online.
What do you think of Larry Correia being harassed by woke activists? Leave a comment and let us know.