Toronto Comicon responds to allegations of overcrowding and pickpocketing this year
Toronto Comicon 2024 promised to be a nerdy wonderland full of cosplay, celebs and collectibles, but according to many who attended the renowned event this past weekend, this year’s iteration included some issues they were not anticipating.
Pickpockets, theft, and harassment are a few of the complaints launched online by attendees about the convention that welcomed 35,000 people into the Metro Toronto Convention Centre this weekend.
I’m so incredibly frustrated. Took my friends to their first #TorontoComicon2024 and one of them had their phone stolen in Artist Alley. Hours later I’m hearing that the same has happened to many people ik. I’m so upset and sad at how my community was treated this weekend.
— Becca (@meiso_soup) March 17, 2024
A slew of unsubstantiated accounts from guests who took to social media after the fact allege that phones, as well as some cash, were pickpocketed over the course of the festival, snuck out of pockets or snatched out of hands.
A handful of vendors also allege that goods were apparently stolen from their booths in the marketplace.
The amount of things getting stolen at toronto comicon is fcking alarming… what the fck
— mars 🌸 toronto comicon A309 (@mamoist) March 17, 2024
Some of those affected also claim that they were not treated well by event staff, saying workers at lost and found were “extremely rude, defensive and laughed in faces.”
In the comments section of an Instagram post by Fan Expo thanking fans for a successful festival, some attendees wrote lengthy, scathing reviews of their experiences, citing a lack of accessibility, overcrowding and mistreatment by staff, on top of the issue of theft.
“Not only were both security staff and volunteer staff rude (as per usual), but accessibility options were either blocked or those with disabilities were refused entry, exit or use of elevators,” one person wrote.
“Thank you for the horrible experience of overcrowding and theft and harassment,” another said. “Thank you for treating people with disabilities horribly! Thank you for doing nothing to help the hundreds of people that had their phones and more stolen!”
hey @FANEXPOCANADA you gonna acknowledge everything that happened yesterday at Comicon Toronto or are you gonna wait until the police and fire department get involved?
— quinoa (@qiinnra) March 17, 2024
Fan Expo, the organizer of Toronto Comicon, responded to blogTO’s inquiry about the claims with a statement that outright denies the negative allegations made about the event.
“We take great care to manage crowd flow and while the event was busy, it was not at over capacity,” the statement reads.
“We did learn about a few unfortunate instances of theft that occurred on Saturday and acted quickly to increase security presence. Fortunately, some phones were just misplaced in the show and were returned to their owners,” they added.
The team also directly countered claims that potentially “hundreds” of phones were stolen, saying that theft “was not a widespread issue and the rest of the event continued on Sunday without any reports of additional incidents.”
Fan Expo runs acclaimed Comicon events all over the country, as well as Fan Expo Canada, which is set to take place in Toronto this August.
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