Arts & Entertainment
FanCon’s sudden postponement baffles attendees, vendors
the community has joined together to organize alternative events


Universal FanCon was abruptly postponed on Friday, Apr. 20.
Universal FanCon, described as the “first multi-fandom Con dedicated to inclusion, highlighting women, LGBTQ, the disabled and persons of color,” left ticketholders, panelists and vendors baffled after the event was postponed just days before kick off.
The three-day event, which was scheduled for April 27-29 at the Baltimore Convention Center and raised more than $50,000 through a Kickstarter campaign, promised exhibitors, panels, a screening of “Avengers: Infinity War,” among other scheduled events.
On Friday, April 20 Universal FanCon put everyone’s plans to a halt with a statement announcing the event was “postponed” in an email.
Well, there’s the bomb. #UniversalFanCon pic.twitter.com/Az2h9Txjcz
— Sarah (@seh) April 20, 2018
A statement, including a FAQ, was eventually posted to the Universal FanCon website.
“Based on an evaluation of all the information available, it was decided that it would be irresponsible to move forward with our plans. Although we worked diligently to preserve the vision of an event that fosters true inclusion, diversity, and safety for all of our guests, exhibitors, and attendees; despite working tirelessly for close to two years, we fell short in delivering the event we envisioned,” the statement reads.
A lack of funding is cited as the main issue for the con’s postponement as the statement admits, “costs started to grow exponentially. Unfortunately, the support we were anticipating in terms of ticket sales and sponsorships did not materialize.”
The statement appeared to be altered a few times since its release with one version of the statement inviting traveling guests to join the Universal FanCon team to watch “Avengers: Infinity War.”
Participants who had invested time and money into the event, including flights and hotels, shared their frustrations on Twitter which brought together a community of hurt con lovers.
So I was going to leave this Universal Fan Con mess alone. But if you had cash flow problems as an event why were you giving so much away? Groupon has pulled the event but they sold tickets there. They gave hotel rooms & flights away like candy. None of this makes any sense.
— Mikki Kendall (@Karnythia) April 24, 2018
This was another red flag.
I kept up with everything through social media and the website, and I wondered how they planned to make or keep any money if they were so hellbent on giving so much away for free or at a discount. But then the sponsorship pleas came… pic.twitter.com/uQuFWSUZlU— DeLaDoll (@TheDeLaDoll) April 24, 2018
This statement is bewildering. I cannot believe you would put this up. To tell people who have bought non refundable tickets that the organizers did too… is flippant, at best. And to offer no refunds… wow.
— roxane gay (@rgay) April 21, 2018
#UniversalFancon is editing this document in real time. I…I can’t believe this is happening. Don’t they have PR? pic.twitter.com/HvGEnl9uye
— V. Vza Complex (@ValerieComplex) April 21, 2018
They really invited everyone to still come see Infinity War tho. Like…really put that out there. “Yeah. Fancon is canceled. You aren’t getting a dime back. But drive for 8 hours to come see a movie with us. Lol.”
??People have cause to slap the taste out your mouth for this.
— Ed @ WICOMICON (@itsedwilliams) April 21, 2018
I am sorry for being so frank but this explanation is absolutely unacceptable. You can’t do this. You can’t decide to just not run a con because it might not be up to your standards. A bad first year con can grow and improve.
— Tans @ Challenge Day (@Tansuru) April 21, 2018
In a tweet apology, Jamie Broadnax, editor-in-chief of Black Girl Nerds, denied her involvement as a co-founder of the con and insisted she was an “unpaid volunteer.”
Hey everyone. Poking my head out here to tell you that I deeply apologize for what transpired to everyone that has been impacted by Universal Fan Con. This includes Kickstarter backers, exhibitors, guests, registered ticket holders and the affiliates associated with the event
— Jamie Broadnax (@JamieBroadnax) April 23, 2018
My responsibilities within the organization did not include financial matters. I have learned the hard way that if my name is associated with something, I need to ask hard questions about financials even if it isn’t my job…
— Jamie Broadnax (@JamieBroadnax) April 24, 2018
However, I am responsible for so many of you in the Blerd community and other marginalized communities being participants of this event. It is because of me and the brand of BGN that you had faith and trust in this convention and shared the vision of being in a safe space…
— Jamie Broadnax (@JamieBroadnax) April 24, 2018
with people of color, LGBTQ, women and people with disabilities. Because of what has happened, so many of you are now displaced, out of funds, and mistrust not only me but the ideas of communities such as this offering crowdfunding ideas like fan conventions…
— Jamie Broadnax (@JamieBroadnax) April 24, 2018
I, just like you am frustrated about what has taken place and the fact that I did not consider how much of an impact and damage this would bring the writers and women affiliated with BGN as well as the affiliates of FanCon and their respective communities…
— Jamie Broadnax (@JamieBroadnax) April 24, 2018
I was an unpaid volunteer, not an officer of the company that organized Universal Fan Con. I’ve decided to step down until further notice as EIC of Black Girl Nerds. There will be over the next few days a new managing editor running the publication in my place….
— Jamie Broadnax (@JamieBroadnax) April 24, 2018
Her statement confused FanCon followers who posted screenshots of Broadnax’s Twitter bio that included “co-founder of FanCon.”
Joi is correct about that poor statement. It dodges culpability.https://t.co/WDAQaMTDv2#FanCon pic.twitter.com/443KmAO65x
— Clarkisha Kent: Dragger of Scammers @ WICOMICON ✈️ (@IWriteAllDay_) April 21, 2018
Universal FanCon executive director Robert Butler also released a series of tweets blaming hotel management for the cancellation.
In the interest of clarity and transparency (and suspecting that tweets would be deleted) I saved the tweets from the #UniversalFanCon co-founder from yesterday. I’m not trying to sling mud at people, but I do think it’s important if they’re just catching up. #FanCon pic.twitter.com/B3NOO2n4W8
— therese ??♀️ (@bamfpire) April 21, 2018
FanCon stated that an effort to refund ticketholders would be made although details were not clarified. According to some Twitter users, refunds have slowly trickled in.
So it looks like refunds for regular ticket holders are going out, one of my friends used my email when she bought her ticket and I just got this. I’m hearing refunds for the Infinity War screening are going out too. #FanCon #UniversalFanCon pic.twitter.com/Ehqv3kslno
— Danyi (@SinEater_Danyi) April 24, 2018
In response to the many disappointed participants, the community banned together to recover time, money and potential exposure.
WICOMICON 2018, a pop-up convention at 1100 Wicomico St., Baltimore, Md. is on Saturday, April 28 from 10 a.m.-7 p.m.
Tickets are $10 and $5 for FanCon ticketholders. Kids 12 and under are free. The event will feature exhibitors, panels, cosplay contests and appearances from members of the cast of ‘The Magicians” and “Killjoys.”
The pop-up con was a last minute group effort by Nerds of Color, Black Heroes Matter, The New Release Wednesday Show’s Patrick Michael Strange, theblerdgurl, Syfy Wire’s contributing editor Karama Horne, Carbon-Fibre Media’s André Robinson and Be A Boss app CEO Elijah Kelley.
Amazing what we can do as a community when faced with a challenge. ? Honored to be affiliated with a group of partners who pulled this event together in record time. BigUps @MSHINDOKUUMBA who blessed us with the epic art!!! INFO: https://t.co/0MA22r7V4Z pic.twitter.com/T1PHbHYmBs
— Black Heroes Matter® (@BHMatter) April 23, 2018
DJ Meagan “Ducky Dynamo” Buster has also organized Universal FanCon Redemption Function, a dance party where artists, vendors and guests are invited to dance and sell their merchandise at The Depot (1728 N Charles St., Baltimore, Md.) on Monday, April from 7-11 p.m.
Movies
‘Pee-wee’ spills the tea in outstanding new documentary
Reubens’s sexuality emerges as the show’s focus

Most of us who have lived long enough to get nostalgic for our formative years have, by now, watched enough documentaries about a beloved entertainment icon from our past to know what to expect when a new one comes along.
Such offerings are typically slick biographical portraits blending archival material with newly filmed “talking head” reminiscences and commentaries, and perhaps punctuated by eye-catching animations or other flourishes to add an extra layer of visual interest; heavy on the nostalgia and mostly reverent in tone, they satisfy us with pleasant memories, supplement our knowledge with behind-the-history insights and revelations, and leave us – ideally – with a renewed appreciation and a reinforced feeling of comfortable familiarity. Many of them are little more than retrospectives, more glossy tribute than in-depth profile; occasionally, a few go beyond the surface to give us a deeper sense of personal connection with their subject – but rarely enough, even in the best of them, to make us feel as if we know them well.
No matter how many of these docs you have seen, however, or jaded your expectations may be when you approach it, “Pee-wee as Himself” is still going to surprise you.
Directed by filmmaker Matt Wolf, the two-part HBO docuseries – which premiered May 23 and is now streaming on Max – is built around material culled from 40 hours of interview footage with the late Paul Reubens (the creator and performer behind nerdy, manic cultural phenomenon and children’s show host “Pee-wee Herman,” for anyone that needs to be told), and conducts a “guided tour” of Reubens’ singular career in the limelight. The first installment traces a path from his Florida childhood through his early adventures as an actor and performance artist in Los Angeles to his rapid rise to fame through the popularity of his carefully crafted alter-ego; part two continues the story to explore the expansion of his fame through the phenomenon of “Pee-wee’s Playhouse,” but soon shifts gears to cover his sudden fall from grace after a notorious “public indecency” arrest in an adult theater, and the subsequent accusations of collecting “child pornography” that unfairly branded him as a pedophile in the public eye — and comes full circle to document his return to favor as an underdog hero for the generation that had grown up watching him.
Besides its detailed chronicle of these already-well-known chapters in Reubens’ life, however, Wolf’s doc (and Reubens, via frequent full-frame close-up commentary throughout) delves into publicly uncharted territory to give us a look at something we’ve never been allowed to see before: Paul Reubens himself.
That includes, of course, removing any ambiguity that might remain about the sexuality of the man behind the bow tie, who never publicly identified as gay before his death from cancer in 2023. It’s not so much a “coming out” — after all, he artfully teased his queerness to fans for years — as it is a dropping of pretense. There’s no need for a definitive statement announcing something that everybody already knew, anyway.
That’s not to say he skirts the issue as he delivers his full-frame close-up testimonial to the camera; on the contrary, he reflects often and with bittersweet candor about the carefully-managed matter of his sexuality – or the public’s perception of it, at any rate – with the matter-of-fact eloquence of someone who’s spent a lot of time thinking about it. He openly discusses his choice to keep the closet door closed on his personal life in order to preserve Pee-wee’s ambiguously wholesome yet irresistibly subversive persona in the public’s imagination, and to abandon his openly queer life (as well as a loving long term relationship, one of the series’ biggest “reveals”) to do so.”I was as out as you could be,” he reflects with rueful irony, “and then I went back in.”
Indeed, it’s Reubens’s sexuality that ultimately emerges as the show’s core focus — even more than the rich treasure trove of personal photos, home movies, behind-the-scenes footage, and all the other fan-thrilling delights it provides — and gives it a larger significance, perhaps than even the man himself. It’s a thread that runs through his story, impacting his choices and the trajectory of his career, and reflecting the familiar shared experience of many audience members who may be able to relate; later, it manifests on a societal level, as Wolf and his subject explore the homophobic attitudes behind the legal persecution that would bring his rising star into a tailspin and hang over his reputation for the rest of his life. It serves as both a reminder of the power of cultural bigotry to repress queerness and a cautionary tale about the personal cost of repressing oneself.
A good number of Reubens’ longtime friends (like Cassandra Petersen, aka “Elvira, Mistress of the Dark,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” costar David Arquette, and former “girlfriend” Debi Mazar, who provided support, acceptance, and companionship in the wake of his legal troubles), come along for the ride, offering their own reminiscences and insights into official record, as well as lesser-known members of an inner circle that comprised the late artist’s chosen family. Yet all these testimonials, authentic as they may be, are not what enable “Pee-wee as Himself” to bring us closer to the real Paul Reubens. It’s Reubens himself who does that.
Maintaining an ambiguously hostile edge in his interviews, bringing to light a clash for control between himself and director Wolf with as much clarity as he illuminates the vast archival material that is shown to document his career, he demonstrates firsthand the need to manage his own narrative, balking, even openly resisting, certain questions and interpretations that arise throughout. It gives the real Reubens the same vague menace with which Pee-wee was also infused — and also creates a sort of meta-narrative, in which the conflict between subject and director must also be resolved before the story can truly achieve closure, calling into question whether Reubens (a veteran of avant-garde theater and lifelong fan of the circus) might not be adding yet another layer of mystery and performance to his image even as he gets honest publicly for the very first time.
That closure eventually comes in the form of a voice recording made by Reubens the day before his death — after a six year battle with lung cancer (he was a heavy smoker, another personal detail he painstakingly hid from the public) which, save for those in his innermost circle, he never revealed until the end — in which he delivers a final message to the world. With it, he finally accomplishes what he never could during his life, and lets us see, at last, who he was when he wasn’t being Pee-wee.
And it’s a beautiful thing.

The Opening Reception for the 34th annual D.C. Black Pride was held at the Capital Hilton on Friday, May 23. Presenters, speakers and entertainers included Ts Madison, Monroe Alise, Billy the Goat, Kerri Colby, Apple Brown Betty, Heather Mahogani, Lyrical Mar, Lolita Leopard, Ink, and Bang Garçon. Anthony Oakes was the host.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)





















The 2025 Silver Pride Resource Fair and Tea Dance was held at the Eaton Hotel on Wednesday, May 21.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)










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