The Ohayocon controversy, explained

2023 saw the death of E3, and now it seems that Ohio’s largest anime convention might have one foot in the grave in 2024. Rather than death by a thousand cuts, the blame falls on dubious leadership. After relying on the support and organizational skills of a volunteer-based Senior Leadership Team, President Melissa Phelps has lost most of her “employees” in what is being called a hostile takeover.

The abrupt and unceremonious ousting of the former Leadership Team has alarmed the many volunteers who work to make Ohayocon a success year after year. But is it a hostile takeover, or simply incompetent management?

Why was Ohayocon Boycotted in 2024?

Ohayocon might not be the biggest anime convention in the Midwest, but the Ohio event attracts an average of 15,000 guests per year. The three-day-long gathering relies on volunteers to go off without a hitch, and though the massive con has undergone several volunteer exoduses over the years, the most recent round of worker frustration has anime fans leery.

The primary point of contention lies with the Con’s recent restructuring. In late 2022 Ohayocon owner, Melissa Phelps (who bought the property in 2011) restructured the compnay into a non-profit to “ensure that the beloved annual gathering could grow and thrive for decades to come even after she passed the baton.” Rather than maintaining as a single weekend for-profit event, Ohayocon rebranded as the non-profit Cultural Exchange Society, Inc (CESI), which would allow the organization to receive grants, gain sponsors and donors and, “to engage our community to keep that Ohayocon feeling going all year long.”

In addition to broadening its fund-raising capabilities, CESI claimed that it reportedly made the move in part to alleviate the stressful working conditions many con volunteers had reported. Within their press release for CESI, the company stated,

 “We simply could not and would not be Ohayocon without them. Yet for too long, Ohayocon has overworked and underappreciated some of our most loyal volunteers simply due to the sheer volume of tasks and responsibilities.”

However, conversations online indicate that despite acknowledging its shortcomings, the company was relatively unsuccessful in reforming its treatment of staff, and volunteers banded together to create COVEN (Conventions of Ohio Volunteer Network) in early 2023.

Volunteer staffers were quick to post on social media that COVEN’s aim was to push for quality-of-life improvements and “Shelter from the non-stop abuse that Melissa reigns down.” The source posted several instances of alleged abuse, like verbal threats and barbs, which were mirrored in the comments.

Another key concern for staffers and attendees was financial transparency. Per ANN, Phelps’s salary was a major point of contention. Many staffers felt Phelps’s proposed pay raise was a potential conflict of interest. Others voiced frustration over their unpaid status. Convention Director Cody Marcum noted that during his 2-year tenure as director, he had never been offered compensation. Likewise, Marcum found Phelps’ proposed salary dubious, noting that most not-for-profit convention owners, like those in charge of Anime Central and Otakon, have never been paid.  

Things escalated further when the convention came under fire for changing its logo. The original logo was found to violate the Geneva Convention by using the Red Cross. After the company adjusted the color scheme to blue, concerns that it might violate copyright for the Blue Cross Blue Shield trademark pushed them to alter it again. Management felt the third iteration, a Sakura blossom, was too similar to the logo for Sakura of America, and out of fear of another lawsuit, they again changed the logo. The company finally settled on a blue and red gradient cross that was very similar to the original logo.

The logo scandal, though rather minor, became a testament for many to the failure of the CESI management.

Fear of inept management came to a head when Macrum and the Director of Marketing were abruptly fired from their positions. Simultaneously, a number of the convention’s then-senior-leaders were locked out of Ohayocon email, Facebook, and tools for managing the convention. Those affected assumed that they too were being removed from their positions, and when they reached out to Phelps for confirmation her only response was that she was, “In the process of making HUGE changes,” and that those accounts would be back shortly.

Staffers were quick to communicate their fears via Discord, and rumors that Phelps was getting revenge for the formation of COVEN rapidly circulated. Within an hour, the Ohayocon front page had a message declaring that Melissa Phelps had initiated a hostile takeover and was Union Busting. Overnight, Macrum and more than 90 others — ranging from senior leadership to volunteers — declared a boycott.

CESI leadership has since responded to the accusations by saying that, since volunteers aren’t paid, they can’t form unions, and therefore no union busting can occur. Director of Operations Liam Rigsby claims that though the group is technically not a union, the ousting was functionally the same.

 Ohayocon’s former gaming director sees it a bit differently, he says fired parties weren’t deeply involved with COVEN, and that the timing of the firings was suspicious but not necessarily linked to union busting.

Even if the move to fire Macrum wasn’t a union-busting tactic, many of Ohayocon’s senior leadership have no plans to return to the con. Macrum says not only does he have no desire to return to the company he also hopes, “to see all of these individuals no longer work in the anime convention industry…. Due to the rampant corruption, incompetence, and mistreatment of volunteers,” he witnessed during his tenure with the company.

Despite all the negative press, calls for a boycott, and rumors that the management team is bare bones, Ohayocon seems to have gone off without a hitch. In the weeks leading up to the event, the hashtag #Nohayocon was trending on Twitter. It called for vendors to back out and for guests to demand refunds. The convention reported an estimated 15,000 participants from the weekend, nearly 3,000 less than last year.