Sasquan Decides Not To Ban Antonelli

Sasquan has decided that Lou Antonelli’s letter to the Spokane PD about David Gerrold violated its Code of Conduct, but at Gerrold’s request set aside a decision to ban him for the reasons discussed in the following public statement.

The Executive Committee of Sasquan, the 73rd World Science Fiction Convention, would like to address the matter of actions taken by Mr. Lou Antonelli with regards to one of our Guests of Honor, Mr. David Gerrold. On August 1st, Mr. Antonelli participated in a podcast in which he stated that he had written a letter to the Spokane Police Department, in which he stated to them that Mr. Gerrold was “insane and a public danger and needs to be watched when the convention is going on”.

Normally, online communications between members is not something in Sasquan’s purview to referee. However, Mr. Antonelli’s letter, which requested police action against Mr. Gerrold during the time of the convention, is within our purview. As such, we found that there was a strong possibility this act was a violation of our posted harassment policy[1], particularly if the letter had, in fact, been sent.

The Executive Committee then turned the matter over to our Operations Head, Ms. Robbie Bourget, who initiated formal proceedings in accordance with that policy. During these proceedings, it came to light that Mr. Antonelli had issued a formal apology to Mr. Gerrold and admitted culpability: he actually sent the letter, not merely claimed to have sent it.

We thoroughly reviewed all available data, including email from both involved parties, social media postings, discussions with key committee members, and so forth. The inescapable conclusion was that Mr. Antonelli had violated our Code of Conduct in this matter. The recommendation was to refund Mr. Antonelli’s membership and prohibit his entry to any convention location or function.

However, after the recommendation was made, Mr. Gerrold, as the aggrieved party, specifically requested that the Executive Committee set aside this recommendation on the grounds that Mr. Antonelli did apologize, is sending a retraction to the Spokane Police Department and because, as a Hugo Nominee, he deserves to attend the ceremony.

The Executive Committee has chosen to accept Mr. Gerrold’s request, and considers the matter closed as of this time. Ms. Bourget has spoken and corresponded with the Spokane Police Department, and they also consider the matter closed. We would like to thank Ms. Bourget for the calm professionalism she lent to the proceedings, and Mr. Antonelli and Mr. Gerrold for coming to a settlement that benefits not just them, but the Worldcon and its members.

While some wonder why the committee has not taken official notice of Antonelli’s interaction with Carrie Cuinn as well, perhaps that is explained by the statement “online communications between members is not something in Sasquan’s purview to referee.”

246 thoughts on “Sasquan Decides Not To Ban Antonelli

  1. I don’t think ST:TOS, TNG, or DS9 have aged at all. Why am I so old though?

    Anyway, let’s not forget that with respect to ST:TOS that it was the show’s fans, particularly Bjo Trimble, who kept it going long enough for it to be later syndicated, much to the delight of my teenage friends and I who faithfully watched it as it was stripped at 4pm every weekday afternoon on our local TV station back in the early 1970s.

    As for comparisons with Lost In Space, while both are SF certainly, Roddenberry’s show was much more steeped in SF&F than Lost In Space ever was. Remember, Ted Sturgeon, Norman Spinrad, Bob Bloch, and Jerome Bixby also wrote episodes for the series, in addition to Ellison and Gerrold.

  2. No — that would be “City on the Edge of Forever” — I love “Tribbles,” it’s great fun, but the episode I’ll never forget is “City.”

    I wasn’t arguing that “Tribbles” is the best episode, just the one that gets the most attention and had the widest popularity inside and outside of SF. But there’s a lot of room for disagreement on this, natch.

  3. But there’s a lot of room for disagreement on this, natch.

    Can we agree that The Omega Glory is the worst episode of the series?

  4. Aaron: There were some in the third season that were just boring, which may be a worse sin than being bizarre and stupid….

  5. I think it’s entirely reasonable for Jane Random Fan to not be aware of Gerrold’s influence in SF. I don’t think it’s reasonable for the main puppies to state that.

    Antonelli’s not a main puppy, though, is he? He’s someone they nominated, not someone who organized the slate. Or am I misremembering?

    I think it’s kind of dumb of someone who grew up in the US, was 10 years old or so when TREK hit the airwaves, and purports to be an SF fan and knowledgable SF writer to say they’ve never heard of Gerrold. People of other nations/ages may have different experiences, but Gerrold has not been easy to overlook in these here parts.

  6. Antonelli’s not a main puppy, though, is he? He’s someone they nominated, not someone who organized the slate.

    I don’t think he organized the slate, but he’s certainly stepped to the fore as one of its louder proponents.

  7. Want to gain a deeper appreciation for Trek? Watch The Star Lost.

    If you have a Roku, there’s an entire channel available for it which is nothing but The Starlost. Every episode.

    Without, alas, commentary by Harlan Ellison.

  8. Antonelli isn’t a Puppy organizer, but he is a long-time ally of Torgersen. Together, they founded the Society for the Advancement of Speculative Storytelling, which is an alternative to SFWA that “expressly disavows any socio-political goals”.

    There are some non-Puppy Partisans in the group, of course.

  9. I’m also one of those heretics who enjoyed both Babylon 5 and ST:DS9. DS9 has some wooden acting and clunky dialogue, but I loved the plotting in seasons 2-4 and did get invested in the characters. Season 5 was mostly a disappointment, though I will admit to choking up while watching the finale.

    DS9’s cast was one of the greatest ensembles I’ve ever seen. Primarily stage actors, and it shows. It had some greatly plotted arcs, and even the villains were three-dimensional. It did have some real stinkers, though…remember when Dhnex yrnearq encr jnfa’g shaal va n uvynevbhf znaare?

    Now comes the real competition: Londo and G’kar or Quark and Odo?

    As for TOS, I never got into it. Probably because I cannot stand James T. Kirk. But I read and enjoyed several of the novelizations of episodes done by James Blish. And I recently watched the Animated Series on Netflix and loved it.

  10. Whoops, did the edit function go away? I meant Babylon 5 had wooden acting and clunky dialogue…

  11. Kurt, Antonelli himself has no excuse. Gerrold was active in SFWA when Antonelli was running for VP.

  12. Londo and G’kar or Quark and Odo?

    Londo and G’Kar. Always.

    And I recently watched the Animated Series on Netflix and loved it.

    The animated series is an often overlooked gem.

  13. What I find weirder than not recognizing David Gerrold’s name is purposefully declaring that ignorance. There’s plenty of reasons why one might not know Gerrold—not a Trek fan, bad memory for names, too young, not American—but it only takes a couple seconds to figure it out. And then you know. So the only purposes in stating that you didn’t are a) to belittle Gerrold and his importance and b) to make a virtue of ignorance. Making a virtue of ignorance is always a popular activity on the US right.

  14. Pups did “I never even heard of you!” to Cadigan as well, which was peculiar since they claim to be close Hugo watchers sensitive to the otherwise imperceptible voting blocs and secret slates that have dominated the award for 20 years, and didn’t recognize Cadigan despite her winning a Hugo in 2013.

  15. Speaking of TOS, and while we are at it, Lost in Space and Batman…

    I was never a TOS fan, having come to ST via the movies and TNG, but decided to watch it little by little on Netflix (I’m about midway through season 1 at this point).

    While watching the first few episodes and marveling at how brilliantly colored everything was, I realized DUH! of course, this was right in the beginning of color TV and series were taking full advantage of it! I started thinking about shows I watched (in 1970s reruns, not as originally aired) around the same time–Lost in Space, Wild Wild West, Batman…all of them have really vivid color schemes. I figure it was either going crazy with the new ability to have color broadcasting or a deliberate marketing technique to sell color TV (or maybe they needed high contrast color to still look good for the many people who would continue to use their black and white TVs for a long time to come?).

    Anyway, I couldn’t believe I’d never really noticed it or made that connection before now. 70s shows look so washed out in comparison (watching some old Emergency! and Quincy episodes around the same time as the Star Trek really brought this out.)

  16. @Kurt Busiek, one real danger of sharing physical space with someone who harasses from afar is in accidentally becoming known to him. He can collect new enemies all weekend long during panels and parties and follow up later from the safety of his keyboard.

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  18. @Aaron

    Nah, The Omega Glory was laughably nonsensical but I’ve always found it kind of charming as an Edgar Rice Burroughs pastiche.

    Spock’s Brain, now, that was downright horrible. Or Turnabout Intruder.

  19. Snowcrash said: “As someone who realllly liked both shows, at the time I really liked B5. But DS9 is the one that really grew on me and has aged faaaaar better.”

    I didn’t watch either at the time, but I went back and mainlined the first four seasons of B5 over the course of a couple of weeks (I actually got up through “Into the Fire”, technically, before life intervened and made binge-watching difficult). It’s aged very well. A bit clunky here and there, but it’s definitely got some moments of amazing power and insight. And some great jokes, despite what people say about JMS not writing comedy well.

    I should probably do the same to DS9, just for comparison’s sake, but then again I’d need to finish Seasons 4 and 5 of B5 first. And Daredevil. And Agent Carter. And Leverage. And I’ve always meant to go back and give X-Files a chance. And I’m trying to watch all of Doctor Who from the beginning. And…

  20. The “I’ve never even heard of [INSERT WELL_KNOWN SUBJECT HERE]” gambit tells me a lot about the person saying it. It tells me that they are passive-aggressively trying to deride the subject as being inconsequential. It tells me that they are lacking in curiosity (it takes but a few seconds to google) or are so sure of their own expertise that if it is something they haven’t already heard of, it can’t be any good. It seems to be a pattern with the Puppies of professing ignorance as a point of pride.

    Ob-xkcd.

    Contrast that with the recent Kyra brackets: many works were put forth & their merits discussed, many of which I had never even heard of. There are now more stories added to my TBR pile (and I’m sure that’s true for many others). What I didn’t do was dismiss them just because I had never heard of them before.

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  22. In his recent “fisking” of a Guardian article by Adam Roberts, Larry Correia proclaims that he’s never heard of Roberts, again as if this were a point against Roberts.

  23. In his recent “fisking” of a Guardian article by Adam Roberts, Larry Correia proclaims that he’s never heard of Roberts, again as if this were a point against Roberts.

    I suppose Correia is unfamiliar with Roberts’ Campbell winning novel Jack Glass. Or Roberts’ other three Campbell nominated novels. Or his Clarke nominated novels. And so on and so forth.

    Every time the Pups open their mouths, it just proves that haven’t got any real clue concerning the actual landscape of the SF/F world.

  24. Hampus Eckerman:

    Is that a problem not to know about Star Trek? I’m not very impressed with the series and while I have seen Trouble with Tribbles an aeon ago, I have not much memory of it and had not heard of Gerrold before starting to read here.

    Once upon a time there were very few decent SF movies, and even fewer decent TV shows. (Most of those being individual episodes episodes of anthology shows like The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits.) The rest of televised SF in the US was frankly awful: lame, marginally scientifictional one-trick gimmick shows like Land of the Giants, Lost in Space, The Time Tunnel, My Favorite Martian, The Invaders, and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.

    Star Trek was the first genuinely science fiction-based show, and as such was tremendously influential. It commissioned scripts from real science fiction writers. It had lousy production values, but so did everything else back then, and we didn’t expect anything better. For its time, its characters were startlingly original. Aliens and humans worked side by side. So did Asians, blacks, and whites.

    There’s a lot more I could say about its influence, but this isn’t the thread for that. The point is that while the SF community is well aware of Star Trek’s flaws, many fans remain fond of the show because they remember how important it has been.

    If Star Trek affectionado is mandatory for fandom, I think I’ll just skip out on my plans to go to WorldCon if Helsinki should win.

    There’s no work of SF or fantasy it’s mandatory to like, though we may look askance at you if you’re excessively rude about the things you dislike. The classic fannish response, if such a thing can be said to exist, would be to think it’s interesting that a sane and reasonable person could love a work you wouldn’t have imagined anyone liking.

    By the way, I love your word “affectionado”. You’ve muddled “affection” and “aficionado” together, and come up with something wholly new.

  25. All this blah blah blah about the Trouble with Tribbles. David Gerrold gave us Land of the Lost. Thus is his greatness revealed!

    PS: “Never heard of him” in the age of the Internet means “I am too lazy and dumb to work Google; please send help.”

  26. I notice that as of right now, the on-line Sasquan schedule still shows Antonelli participating in four program items, including a solo reading and a kaffee klatche (and he’s autographing in the same session as John Scalzi).
    I think that a reasonable action by Sasquan, after they had decided not to ban him from the convention, would have been to disinvite him from the program.

  27. Morris Keesan: I notice that as of right now, the on-line Sasquan schedule still shows Antonelli participating in four program items… I think that a reasonable action by Sasquan, after they had decided not to ban him from the convention, would have been to disinvite him from the program.

    I don’t see how they could do that. Either he’s banned, or he’s not. The Code of Conduct is about protecting other attendees, not about punishing the perpetrator.

    At this point, Sasquan has hoist themselves on their own petard. Having issued a ruling that Antonelli should be banned, but will not be banned due to Gerrold’s intercession, they now have a large number of pissed-off and/or concerned attendees whom they have made feel unsafe by making a mockery of their own Code of Conduct in an attempt to appease the Puppies they feared would cause trouble if Antonelli was banned.

    They really needed to think some more and get some more second opinions before making their decision and publicizing it, because they’ve made they wrong choice, but they can’t change it now.

    They are also going to have one hell of a difficult time now enforcing their CoC, should incidents at the con make that necessary.

  28. Teresa Nielsen Hayden:

    “Star Trek was the first genuinely science fiction-based show, and as such was tremendously influential.”

    The first SF series that I can remember seeing in swedish TV was Flash Gordon. It was great! Cliffhangers galore. Was one of those we watched the whole family together.

    “By the way, I love your word “affectionado”. You’ve muddled “affection” and “aficionado” together, and come up with something wholly new.”

    Or I’m just a swede with english as a second language. Passive vocabulary is good, but not always the usage, spelling and grammar. 😛

  29. JJ:

    They are also going to have one hell of a difficult time now enforcing their CoC, should incidents at the con make that necessary.

    Experience — and I mean, numerous stories covered here — has shown enforcing a Code of Conduct is always difficult. However, if a situation arises where Sasquan needs to enforce the CoC I would be very surprised if the people so vocally disappointed about the Antonelli decision did anything except encourage them.

  30. Mike Glyer: if a situation arises where Sasquan needs to enforce the CoC I would be very surprised if the people so vocally disappointed about the Antonelli decision did anything except encourage them.

    I’m thinking more along the lines that anyone so sanctioned will be making a big stink about the inconsistency and capriciousness of Sasquan’s enforcement of their CoC — and rightly so. Sasquan has now left themselves open to charges of favoritism — and if someone gets ejected from the con and makes that claim, they’ll be right.

    Sasquan has already covered themselves with the opposite of glory, with their handling of the Antonelli issue. There’s no where to go after this but further down.

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  32. JJ:

    “Sasquan has now left themselves open to charges of favoritism — and if someone gets ejected from the con and makes that claim, they’ll be right.”

    Nah, not really. I think it would be a very, very small number who thought that either Antonelli or the puppies were one of the favourites of Sasquan.

  33. Spock’s Brain, now, that was downright horrible.

    That one was bad when it was new. (I was in college that season. The TV room was SRO for TOS.)

  34. JJ: While I imagined that’s what you were really thinking about, consider all the flaws in the mundane legal system that exist without people’s response being, “Let’s give up.”

    And all this stuff you spout about the inconsistency and capriciousness of Sasquan’s enforcement of their CoC — you only know about this one case. One case is not a pattern. The sky is not falling. “There’s no where to go after this but further down.” Says who? Based on what facts? Get a grip.

  35. Mike, I’ve got a grip, thanks. I’d be more than glad to be proven wrong.

    It’s just really disappointing to see Sasquan make what I feel is a huge misstep — both in making con-goers feel safe, and in sending a message to would-be miscreants that miscreanting is not just going to be overlooked with a wink and a nod.

  36. Hampus, it is *completely* not mandatory. I (for example) have only ever read one Heinlein novel, and that was assigned to me for a university course. And I’ve had great times at two WorldCons despite at least one person using Heinlein-reading as an “how can you be a fan and *not*” criteria.

    As someone who ranks “Trouble with Tribbles” as one of their favourite Star Trek eps, allow me to say that if Helsinki wins, I hope you go and have an awesome time. 🙂

  37. JJ:

    Enforcing any rule set will provoke complaints. I’m not saying that enforcement is a hopeless task, or that all rule sets are created equal, or that complaints should be dismissed or ignored; just that there is bound to be some vocal dissatisfaction.

    I’m a lot less worried about Lou Antonelli doing damage in person than I am about him getting other people to do his damage for him.

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