SALT LAKE CITY — A Twitter battle over a sexual harassment complaint has turned ugly between a popular Utah author and one of the co-founders of the FanX Salt Lake Comic Convention.
Best-selling author Shannon Hale tweeted Monday night that she reached out to FanX co-founder Bryan Brandenburg about her concerns attending the convention following the sexual harassment allegations surrounding the conference.
The official FanX account then tweeted a screenshot of the author’s email but failed to block out her personal email address. That’s called doxxing.
Hale then tweeted a picture of Brandenburg’s response in which he called the #MeToo movement “trendy.”
The post sparked immediate outrage.
The statement says in part:
“Moving forward, our goal is to create a safe environment for everyone. Training for staff will happen within the next 90 days, so we are equipped to handle sexual harassment and assault reports. Our new harassment policy now includes instructions on how to report an incident anonymously or in person. It also clearly states the sanctions that will be taken when a report comes in. The harassment policy also includes more defined behavior expectations for our attendees, guests, agents, cosplayers, panelists, moderators, staff, vendors, vendor models, and volunteers. Consent is key. These improvements would not have happened without your voice.”
Other authors and actors tweeted Monday night that they will no longer be attending in September.
KSL has reached out to both Brandenburg and Hale for comment but has not yet received replies.