Last night Grand Rapids Comic-Con disinvited and kicked out Lonestar creator Mike S. Miller from their upcoming convention.
We need to report that Mike S. Miller will not be attending the Grand Rapids Comic-Con this year. We apologize to his fan base and wish Mike the best. We will be announcing a few comic writers over the next week or so, just finalizing some details before doing so.
— GR Comic Con (@grcomiccon) September 19, 2018
In a YouTube livestream discussing Grand Rapids Comic-Con’s decision to kick him out of the convention, Miller noted he believes Twitter user and cosplayer Renfamous influenced the convention’s decisions:
“Apparently it’s from Notfamous on her little tirade to make sure none of us can make a living in our chosen profession.” He explained why he believes Renfamous played a part, “Someone said they did a Twitter search of me, my name, and Grand Rapids Comic-Con, and the only connection was that blue-haired bimbo, who shall go unnamed on my channel.”
I reached out to Renfamous to get her take on the situation:
“I applaud Grand Rapids Comic Con’s decision to rescind the guest invitation previously extended to Mike S. Miller for their 2018 show. In taking this action, GRCC has shown their willingness to prioritize the comfort and well-being of their guests/attendees and made a meaningful statement against bigotry in the comic book community.
While I’ve received no indication that my efforts to publicize Mike S. Miller’s history of homophobic/transphobic/racist commentary influenced GRCC’s decision, I hope those observing the situation will see the importance of speaking out against hate at every opportunity.”
I asked if she believes anyone else should be removed from conventions. She responded:
“I don’t think anyone should be removed from conventions. I think cons should make an effort to be aware of public statements made by potential guest invitees and consider carefully the comfort and safety of all attendees when extending guest invitations.”
Given her response, I asked if she believes Mike S. Miller should be reinvited to the Grand Rapids Comic-Con. Here’s her response:
“Seems to me like they realized they should have done better due diligence before inviting him, and after doing so they determined the best action they could take for their business and their customers was to rescind his invitation.”
I followed that up with a question on whether or not she will continue to reach out to conventions and warn them about people she deems bigots. She responded:
“Yes I’ll continue to publicize statements made by bigots in hopes of encouraging cons to reconsider giving a platform to hate and/or allowing con attendees to make informed decisions about who they patronize at conventions.”
I then asked her if she would also warn conventions about people like DC Comics artist Ramon Villalobos and CBR writer Kieran Shiach. Villalobos made a number of racist comments recently including stating he wanted to put white people in FEMA camps. CBR writer Kieran Shiach has led a number of campaigns against comic book creators and has also intimated he wanted to execute people via guillotine.
Renfamous answered:
“No I won’t. I’m only one person who has elected to advocate in a certain niche. I encourage anyone who feels as strongly about Villalobos and Shiach’s statements to engage their own awareness campaigns if they deem it appropriate.”
Renfamous gave us a final statement:
“As a final statement I’d like to say that it’s a travesty that we’ve reached the year 2018 without a trans Spider-man arc and I encourage Marvel to remedy this ASAP.”
What do you make of Renfamous’ statements in response to Grand Rapids Comic-Con kicking out Mike S. Miller?