According to the community organizers for the Texas-based Con-Munnity Festival, part of their venue was trashed and some of the property was stolen by minors, a few of whom apparently had ties to the #KickVic group, which is a movement aimed at trying to get voice actor Vic Mignogna kicked out of the anime industry.
This news originally surfaced back in the middle of March, when the Con-Munnity Fest account discussed their convention venue being trashed by a group of people. Originally there were was confusion on whether or not #KickVic people were involved, but on March 12th, 2019, the organizers did state that there were people who were angry at them for supporting “sexual harassment” and “spreading propaganda” because they defended Vic Mignogna from some of the more spurious accusations that were directed at him.
Others were skeptical that any vandalism took place, but Minnesota lawyer, Nick Rekieta, confirmed that both he and his wife saw one of the rooms that was trashed at the Con-Munnity Festival.
I can confirm that their game room was trashed https://t.co/MiAMBuwvGj
— Rekieta Law: Speech is Free, but Lawyers Aren’t (@NickRekieta) March 12, 2019
At the time they were still unsure about the perpetrators involved, but recently the organizers began opening up more after the police arrested the suspects and the situation was finally resolved.
Twitter user GhostShell posted up direct messages from a conversation they had with one of the organizers, who explained more in-depth what happened.
On March 30th, 2019 GhostShell posted the following tweets, acknowledging that Con-Munnity Festival will be holding a second event later this year, and that they will be inviting Vic Mignogna.
ConmunnityFest have CONFIRMED that some of the people that thrashed parts of the event, destroying con property, are in fact part of #kickvic. Authorities were INVOLVED in capturing them, but since they were minors, the con decided NOT to press charges & leave them with a record. pic.twitter.com/YfzHFbG1M4
— GhostShell (@GhostShellZen) March 30, 2019
.@ConMunnityFest staff have also invited Vic to their second event, which will be this October in Lubbock TX, and he has agreed to come! If anyone wishes to support this con, a donation link will be up & running soon on their FB page & website. #IStandWithVic #VicKicksBack pic.twitter.com/9Zo23xHPJE
— GhostShell (@GhostShellZen) March 30, 2019
In the relevant images, the Con-Munnity Festival organizer explains…
“We have caught some of the perpetrators. Not everyone involved is from kickvic but the ones confirmed have returned some of the stolen equipment and apologized for the vandalism. We had a thorough talk with their parents and they will be appropriately disciplined by their parents.
“They were all minors and after much consideration we decided not to file charges against them. Everyone makes mistakes growing up and we don’t want to ruin their futures because of an influential online group (kickvic).”
They later made a public post about the issue as well when other members of the community began asking about the legitimacy of the messages shared by GhostShell. They also went into detail noting that some of the equipment that had been destroyed included televisions, sound systems and movie projectors, and the kids stole some game consoles, accessories, video games, and small speakers.
Some of the perpetrators have been caught, we recovered some of our stolen equipment. Not everyone from the group is “kickvic” and most of them are minors. After talking to the parents and getting a sincere apology we have decided not to file charges for their lapse of judgment.
— Con-Munnity Festival (@ConMunnityFest) March 30, 2019
Destroyed equipment that’s worth noting are Televisions, sound system and movie projectors. Stolen equipment would be consoles, gaming accessories, newly released games and small speakers.
— Con-Munnity Festival (@ConMunnityFest) March 30, 2019
This was also reiterated in private messages that another member of the convention shared with YouTuber Hero Hei.
In the 20 minute video he talked about some of the pressures that other vendors and voice actors are under in order to avoid publicly supporting Mignogna in order to protect their jobs.
Some of this escalation spawns from the fact that Vic Mignogna has been gathering funds for a lawsuit in order to recover his career after media outlets spread damaging information about him that ended up resulting in production companies like Rooster Teeth and Funimation ending their contracts with Mignogna.
When some of the accusations also turned out to be false or fabricated, a few conventions decided to re-invite Mignogna much to the chagrin of his detractors, resulting in Vic’s antagonists publicly pulling out of attending the conventions.
How this all turns out is anyone’s guess, but as mentioned in the video above by Hero Hei, Con-Munnity Festival has plans on hosting a second convention later this year during fall, in October, where they have intentions to invite Vic Mignogna once again.
(Thanks for the news tip Iswear12)