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Controversy Hits Duke City Comic Con – And Their Mothers

Published Mon, 08 May 2017 17:30:29 -0500

Last updated Mon, 08 May 2017 19:46:09 -0500

Bleeding Cool got a call over the weekend about a back-and-forth going on regarding Duke City Comic Con, happening in Albuquerque this weekend.

They'd run a promotion for the Sunday of the show, for Mother's Day in the USA in which mothers could attend for free, alongside someone else who bought a full priced ticket.

What could be so controversial?

"A man to buy a ticket"… as opposed to another adult. Would anyone mind? Yes. Ws it poor phrasing? Would any objection be over-sensitive? Well, this is the internet. People, customers even, would be listened to by the show's organisers, and if it was really an issue and no skin off anyone's nose, maybe the wording might even be changed? I mean, this is the internet, that could only make things better, right?

That was before organiser Jim Burleson started sharing private messages sent to the convention by concerned individuals, simultaneously fixing the language but also stating that anyone who had an issue with the original post shouldn't come to the show. The redaction of identity was on our part, not on Jim's.

And then saying he's not changing the wording after all.

Oh yes, that's when I got drawn into it all. As Jim chose to respond to private customer concerns, however much he may have disagreed with them, with public mocking of them – and anyone who felt like them. And plenty of people on social media to point this out.

The next day, the original post was reworded. Someone, somewhere thought maybe it was for the best.

Just not before they went to their Facebook page. Jim's posts, were also down so he just posted similar elsewhere. The strange thing is that this makes two years in a row for shows that Jim Burleson is running to see him caught up in social media controversy, and again making public private complaints…