Reports circulated Friday that Dave McCarty had been refused admission to the UK Eastercon being held this weekend. McCarty had posted a flight itinerary to the UK on his Facebook page on March 27.
File 770 contacted the Levitation (UK Eastercon 2024) committee asking if they could confirm the story or put it to rest. Today Farah Mendlesohn, Chair, Levitation 2024 issued the following statement:
On Thursday the Levitation (Eastercon 2024) executive committee was informed that a person, whose presence we believed would cause significant interference with the operations of the convention, was intending to join on the door.
The Levitation (Eastercon 2024) executive committee took the decision to refuse membership to this person.
An email was sent explaining our decision and referencing our code of conduct which states that we may revoke or refuse membership under these circumstances.
When this person then chose to enter the convention the next day, we told them that they would not be allowed to buy a membership and asked them to leave the site. They repeatedly refused to do so. We explained that if they did not leave we would ask site security to escort them out. They did not leave, and security did therefore escort them from the premises.
A second person of concern who purchased a membership in 2022 was permitted to remain under specified conditions, and has abided by those conditions.
Farah Mendlesohn
Chair, Levitation 2024
N.B. Levitation is an unincorporated members’ society under UK law, and may refuse membership for any reason other than a person belonging to a protected group.
The “second person of concern” is believed to be Ben Yalow, who is present at the convention.
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@Alison Scott:
That doesn’t quite conect with the fact that he(Dave) had to be escorted by security out of the building.
Ben Yalow is not the centre of the anger like Dave and there are some thinks that Dave has done that he is alone responsible, that made it worse, so I can see them both treated differently. It may also be that people who know Ben think he hasn’t got that much of a temper(Facebook from Dave was bad) and the con did have time to cordinate with Ben because he was a member.
I think IF we only had the disqualification because of chinese sensibilitys (or imagionary ones) Dave would have no problem with attending cons, but after the rest came to light, this is to much. (The team making docies of Hugofinalists, the slatedisqualification, the complete ridicoless statistics, that looked completly faked and on the top of that the aligations of sexuel crimes) To much to ask people to ignore and it is better for Dave to not be involved.
I have no interest in your opinion. I’d suggest learning to read more carefully, take a step back from a knee-jerk response and consider issues with greater objectivity and nuance. I’d also note that hyperbolic reactions on the internet are a great way to wreck your blood pressure.
Good.
Yalow should have been banned too. I was distressed to see him walking around Boskone this year as if nothing had happened.
After reading other people’s comments amd thinking about it more, I agree with the decision to bam McCarty.
The man is clearly corrupt, and has done tremendous damage to fandom as a whole.
I’m glad they turned him away. It’s taking a stand and that’s what we need.
The biggest issue I’ve had with the handling of the Hugo situation has been the lack of official groups standing up to condemn the actions of Chengdu’s Hugo committee for violating fannish values and traditions. The MPC comes closest, though they need to boot all Chengdu representation offf the committee, and Glasgow’s statements are ok, but clear condemnation is necessary at that level of transgression.
“on the very day [this Friday 29th] we learned that a 2024 Hugo nominee declined a spot on the ballot because they could no longer trust the award after 2023’s shenanigans”
Where can I learn about this?
@JJ
I don’t see an official censure having much more of an effect on him than the unofficial censure (amongst fandom and in the media) has so far. Not that the official censure doesn’t need to happen anyway, and I have no doubt it will pass. An official censure is more for everyone who cares about restoring the integrity of the award. It doesn’t matter one little bit what he thinks about it.
However, Eastercon banning him and standing their ground when he thought he could bully his way in regardless might just start to make him realize how badly he f****ed up.
(Bleeping out the swear to avoid getting caught in moderation.)
@Jan Vanek jr
I assume this is in reference to Natasha Bardon’s statement.
In case people without Instagram accounts can’t see the link (or don’t feel like clicking). Here is what Natasha Bardon (who declined for Editor, Long Form) said:
My reaction was to say loudly (I do live alone) Good Merciful Heavens!!!! Wow. I lost respect for both of these guys but having been raised by people from the Midwest of the US (think of it sort of like southern Canada) I will just ignore Yalow’s existence. He generally helps with the voting table at Worldcon and attends the business meeting.
I recommend a good ole fashioned shunning by fans attending any cons these two attend.
@Liz Williams–
You cited one case of one man with one accusation against him.
Dave McCarty, on the other hand, has multiple credible accusations against him, along with his utter disregard for the Hugo rules, disqualification of people who should have been finalists on completely specious grounds, his aggressive and insulting responses to anyone who dared question his non-answers about why those should-have-been finalists were disqualified.
Your single empirical case isn’t relevant here. Maybe you’re the one who needs to check your blood pressure, and make sure you have an adequate supply of those meds.
I hope Dave enjoys his con-free UK vacation. I wonder if he’s staying in the Eastercon hotel? If the bar is open to non-attendees? Of course, having yourself escorted off the property by hotel security is a way to guarantee that you won’t be let back in for any reason. Remember, it’s private property.
I believe both Dave and Ben have killed their smoffish ‘careers.’ No con wants them to work for them any more. Indeed, I was rather surprised to see Ben being treated civilly at Boskone, but I guess nobody thought being rude would benefit anyone. I expect both will still attend conventions, but they will find some former friends being rather cold. Still, at least Ben has the grace to keep his head down.
I bought a membership to Glasgow for the first time and if I saw McCarty attending fan events connected to WorldCon (eg finalist announcements) in the absence of explanations apologies or other consequences I would be a) disappointed and b) out, forever. The man was verbally abusive and repeatedly claimed sole responsibility for all eligibility decisions and has been named as a sexual harassed by multiple people. If he was still ‘in’, then as far as I’m concerned that would signal the awards were completely untrustworthy and unredeemable.
Agreed. I’m glad Dave McCarty flew all the way to the U.K. to find out he was banned instead of doing the sensible thing and trying to obtain a membership before embarking on the trip. He deserved to endure that humiliation.
A lot of people flew all the way to Chengdu for the honor of being nominated and potentially winning a Hugo Award. McCarty put them through a lot more than the embarrassment of being excluded from a con. He put all of us through the humiliation of the Hugos and Worldcon being discredited globally.
The fact he had to be walked out by security is more evidence he thinks following rules is for other people. I have no problem with a con deciding he isn’t welcome.
Lisa wonders:
This year Eastercon is in a conference centre rather than a hotel. I think the thing of cons always being centred in a hotel is a more American thing than European .None of the European worldcons I’ve attended have been in hotels, and there are only about two hotels in the UK able to host an Eastercon and everyone’s sick of them.
There are a couple of hotels more or less adjacent to the conference centre, and I suppose he could be hanging out in one of them.
Liz Williams: I’m kind of glad Lis Carey cited the way you originally phrased your reply before you edited, because it shows the ugliness plainer still, but it remains ugly in the “nice” version.
I, too, know someone falsely accused of sexual harassment. Strangely, what had them cleared was investigating and taking the complaint seriously, and publicly publishing the results, not wringing hands in the face of a case of clear, credible and multiple complaints AND other misbehavior, and worrying we’re going too far.
@Lisa Hertel–Ben behaves civilly, and doesn’t provoke fights. It doesn’t excuse the Chengdu-related issues, for which he’ll never haver his former smoffish respect. It does mean that treating him civilly, or just ignoring him, are both available options. Not so with McCarty.
Mmm, McCarty being an attending at Glasgow is…interesting. I wonder if the con will take steps there, or if we’ll get to find out exactly what Eastercon avoided.
I suspect McCarty at the Business Meeting at Glasgow would fill me up with schadenfreude for a year. I am unsure if it is a good idea, but it might be hilarious.
“I definitely don’t want to derail this conversation about consequences for bad behavior so here’s an example of how someone was falsely accused of bad behavior and suffered consequences that were unfair” is a really strange flex. And an entirely predictable sequelae of someone who deserves it having consequences imposed on them (see also: “this slippery slope will surely lead us into PERIL” noted previously).
So, I see two options for what McCarty did. Either, the dude has enough money that a last-minute jaunt to the UK over Easter is no big deal (and a quick look at Kayak yields plane fares of better than a thousand dollars), or he had this planned for a reasonable period of time but decided not to pre-register for Reasons. I just don’t feel a lot of sympathy, either way.
Friendly reminder to everyone that the folks who have accused McCarty of sexual harassment and assault are not solely women. Especially today (Trans Day of Visibility) , please don’t misgender the non-binary folks involved (of which I am one).
@Jesi: Thank you for the reminder.
Laura: Ah, thank you; I didn\t find it here (even in the comments) and had no idea where else to look.
Entirely my mistake, Jesi, and my apologies — please correct to “people of multiple genders” in my original comment, and I’ll make a note for the future.
I spotted Ben at MidSouthCon last week and as far as I’m aware, there was no issues with his attendance. I very much understand how jarring his presence might be to those more strongly affected by the scandal. I had to do a double take when I saw him in the lobby. But I don’t think he went to pick fights.
Ben was at FenCon in February, and there wasn’t an issue with his attendance, but I know I gave him a lot of stink-eye.