Dragon*Con Boycott Gets Atlanta Coverage

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution interviewed past Dragon*Con guests who plan to stay away due to the boycott in its March 27 edition.

It was the Connecticut charges, and a detailed account of Kramer’s saga published in Atlanta Magazine last fall, that convinced one-time Dragon-Con performer and customer Jim Stacy to stay away this year. “I can’t in good conscience have money that I’ve spent going to continue to allow him to skirt a trial date,” said the 6-foot-6 Stacy, a well-known figure in local theater and music circles. Stacy once performed at the convention in a Star Wars themed band (he was dressed as Darth Vader) and is the star of the PBA food series “Get Delicious!”

And —

Don Murphy, producer of the “Transformer” movies (which have earned $2.6 billion at the box office), is a one-time Dragon-Con panelist who won’t be going back.

The for-profit nature of Dragon-Con is what chains the organization to Kramer, said Murphy. “The fact that it’s a profit motive is what’s keeping them from doing the right thing and getting rid of him.”

Nancy Collins, who called for the boycott, told a reporter, “I’ve had people threaten violence and death to me because of the boycott.”   

Kramer is presently in custody at the Gwinnett County Detention Center (Ga.). The district attorney’s office plans to have him examined for fitness to stand trial.

8 thoughts on “Dragon*Con Boycott Gets Atlanta Coverage

  1. I’ve been seeing news of this case for years. There’s a lot of confusion about the issues surrounding this call for a boycott, not helped by Nancy Collins, who most certainly is not the best advocate for her own cause.

    I think the operative issue here for many people is, “What Did Pat Henry Know, and When Did He Know It?” I keep on seeing anonymous posts on various sites saying things like “Ed Kramer was grooming me in the early nineties — everyone knew about his proclivities for young boys” or “Kramer tried to make me one of his boys, but the other people at Dragon*Con steered me away from him because they knew what he was like.” But no-one willing to go on the record.

    Kramer’s own deeply dishonest machinations in obtaining an indefinite medical continuance, claims which most always believed but now can prove were absolute bullshit, have been very frustrating to those who want to see justice on this issue. It is unreasonable to demand people wait for the trial before drawing conclusions when you yourself are responsible for delaying the trail indefinitely.

    Suffice to say that the tag “Sandusky of SF” might prove prophetic, as the lens moves after his trial to those who had knowledge of Kramer’s alleged behaviours and did nothing about it. Some very high people in Atlanta fandom might be implicated.

  2. I should add, because I know she will read this, that I am deeply sympathetic to Nancy Collin’s perspective and if what she is alleging is true, she has a perfect right to be extremely angry at DragonCon. It’s just that the “continuing to profit from DragonCon” frame really misstates the key issue, for me. Sorry Nancy.

  3. @Jason: For the present, the people I’ve seen quoted explaining their support for the boycott focus on Ed’s continuing ownership interest in Dragon*Con and the stream of income he receives from it.

    If Kramer goes to trial, testimony spotlighting people’s knowledge of his activities over the years might alienate a few more. Do you think that would have a significant impact on the con, or will most people shrug it off?

  4. If Kramer goes to trial, testimony spotlighting people’s knowledge of his activities over the years might alienate a few more. Do you think that would have a significant impact on the con, or will most people shrug it off?

    Well, if the national media decides Ed Kramer has “star potential”, like Jodi Arias or Jerry Sandusky, the entirety of SF fandom will take a huge PR hit, and I’m betting DragonCon’s custom will dry up inside two years. OJ Simpson merely killed someone; Americans reserve their real revulsion for what will be portrayed as the trial of the creepy nerdy gay kid diddler. Hardcore fans won’t care, but the casual semi-mundanes will stay away in droves.

    Have we contingency plans for headlines like “Con Creep groomed kids for sex, organizers looked on: Witness.”

    Yeah, thank you very much, Kramer.

  5. Since Kramer was arrested in *1996* on aggravated child molestation charges–which Roland Castle of the now-defunct Magnum Opus Con knew about–DragonCon has a lot of questions to answer in regards what they knew and when. The truth of the matter is that Kramer had a long, shady history re children in Atlanta Fandom dating back before the founding of the convention.

  6. Since Nancy never gives a full fact when doing so might destroy the narrative she wants to create in the minds of those who don’t know any better…

    The alleged victim in the 1996 arrest in short order recanted his story, claimed nothing happened after all, and the charges were dropped. The upshot of that is obvious. Anyone who knew about the arrest and the following proceedings would believe that Kramer was wrongly accused and cleared of wrongdoing by the statements of the accuser himself.

    All of the facts tend to make the entire question of who knew what and when that she’s trying to create in the minds of those who don’t know the history of the case end up with a lot less umph to it. Probably why she leaves them out.

    It’s also interesting that she’s stating that someone who was at that time a bitter rival of Ed Kramer’s knew all about the charges and arrest. It’s interesting because, in order to make things around the case sound even more dark and sinister, she’s been floating conspiracy theories in forums and on podcasts like the Transmissions From Atlantis Podcast. One of the conspiracy theories she floats is that there was a giant cover-up that ensured that no one, not even many friends of Kramer’s, as Nancy was then, knew about it.

    But here she’s saying that a bitter rival of Kramer’s knew all about it when it happened.

    Gotta love it.

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