Actor and promoter of the GamerGate movement, Adam Baldwin, has sparked an online campaign to stop him from attending Supanova 2015, an Australian pop culture expo.
In August of last year Baldwin coined the phrase "GamerGate" and stirring a movement against game developers Zoe Quinn and Brianna Wu.
#GamerGate: pt. 1: https://t.co/VMIwtoFlhD pt. 2: https://t.co/bLrgB8JGwQ
The movement resulted in both being doxxed, and creator of the Feminist Frequency blog Anita Sarkeesian receiving death threats – including one that threatened to undergo a mass-shooting at a school she was set to speak at.
A rival petition has since been started - in an effort to make sure Baldwin's invite to Supanova isn't revoked.
A counter-petition has arisen that is being flooded with fake votes from 8chan... I have been repeatedly called a fascist pig (which, as a member of the Greens, is just plain odd), and attention whore, and been told to commit suicide.
Some say "If he's there, just ignore him", but they don't realise how small the Australian con scene is. We have Oz Comic Con, Supanova, PAX AUS, and then some smaller niche events. That's it. When a guest is invited to one of the three big ones, they set part of the tone of the event. So for someone to be there who is openly supporting a movement that hates on the geek community, That'll have a flow-on effect to the entire event.
Baldwin himself is claiming that the petition "violates the Australian Defamation Act."
ICYMI: That petition is built on lies/libel & perhaps violates the Australian Defamation Act. 2005 #77. - http://t.co/KsIpMYd4DK
Supanova, the event at the centre of all this, has released one statement on their Facebook regarding the controversy.
