Hey Angelmage!
First thing, I just wanted to let you know that Artemis's preferred pronouns are he/him! I'm sure you didn't intend to misgender him, so I wanted to let you know!
It looks like there is some information you haven't been made aware of in this situation and I wanted to share and update you! I say this not to be combative, but to share knoweldge and understanding of the situation that has impacted a lot of Utah convention goers.
angelmage99
During the video they stated that the cosplayer (Artemis) in question had been given a maybe about being a judge at the event. The staff would look into if they thought Artemis was a good fit. Upon furthur exploring they discovered two things 1) Artemis had made several claims that didn't add up in their records and 2) That people had allegations of abuse against Artemis.
To avoid drama the staff pulled a loophole rule out that stated "No local judges". They would use the rule as the reason instead of saying something like "You're an abuser" to politely reject Artemis as a Judge.
Artemis was not a maybe as a cosplay contest judge - Anime banzai had already liased with them, negotiated a contract, and all parties had signed the contract. Artemis was a legally contracted guest of the convention.
He received an email later saying that they had received a complaint after announcing him as a contest judge that because he's local, that he would be biased. So they decided they would be releasing him from his contract due to an antidiscrimination clause - citing that because he was a local cosplayer, he
would be biased and discriminate against other locals.
(I'm not going to dive too deep into the fact that dismissing someone because they live in a certain location can in fact, be taken as discrimination)
The loophole they used of "No local judges" could have possibly applied if it was a secret that Artemis is a local cosplayer, but both parties knew that he was a Utah based cosplayer when the contract was signed. Additionally the 2023 cosplay contest had a local judge.
The problem arose because Banzai had announced him as a guest and then pulled him from their website and socials without a word. People were starting to make assumptions, rumors were circulating about him, and it was hurting his professional reputation. He wanted them to address the issue publicly (Either explain to attendees about the new rule or apologize for not remembering they had 'unspoken' a no local judge rule when they signed the contract with a local judge), or to reinstate him as a judge. Without those two things, his opportunities to judge at other cons in the future may be harmed.
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3) Comments about unprofessional behavior on the part of Artemis were made.
4) The con tried to back track. Offering a "guest seat".
The 'unprofessional' behavior Artemis was accused of was asking people they had judged with in the past, as well as those who knew him well, to send in character references to the con, to affirm that there would be no bias for or against local cosplayers, that he is a fair judge - I personally don't feel like this is unprofessional.
The email he got back was "Well we were
going to offer you an industry judge position, but not anymore!"
My personal opinion is that one if this was way more unprofessional than the other.
Again. I apologize if this comes off as combative. I just mean to give you this info to update your cliff notes. Many local cosplayers, as well as convention organizers for local and out of state cons know that Artemis is incredibly professional and kind - he's been contracted with major conventions on the west coast and has never had anyone say a word about his professionalism or lack thereof.
Anime Banzai has a wrought history of incredibly unprofessional behavior in this regard including and not limited to accusing people they don't like for other reasons of being abusers to wash their hands of them. Off the top of my head, I can think of 4-5 people from different friend groups, and different demographics this has happened to - the only factor these people have in common is that they openly criticized a decision made by Linda or Kimmie Young (two of the 3 conheads)
Again, I say this only to inform people of the larger situation at hand.
I think its important to protect a potentially innocent cosplayer who (from what I can see) stood up for himself. So many people are saying this happened because of one guest - but this happened because a lack of professionalism, and from what the board said in their letter: a lack of money. They did not have the money to rent to venue this year, nor did they have the staff. After this meeting, 4+ staff members quit because of how uncomfortable they were with the way the conheads had been speaking.
If you'd like, I can probably get you in contact with former staff and volunteers who can verify the allegations of the conventions toxic culture.
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