Last night twitter user Bill in San diego @BillntwrkBill got very vocal about the Ferguson protests on his account. Which is his right, as laid out by our Bill of Rights. However, it went over the line of what one might call civil commentary with calling the mother of a dead teenager a “whiny bitch” for grieving for her son, and a lot of other offensive rhetoric.

But here’s the interesting part. His bio lists

U. S . Navy Vet. Comic Con Regular Committee member. Married to wonderful woman. My tweets are my own. Go to CCI official website for factual information. Socal

and Comic-Con did indeed come up in several tweets. Bill (identified in this thread on his misdeeds as Bill Purcell) claimed he was not a committee member, but rather a volunteer. A volunteer who offered to give out passes for sexual favors?
billpurcell.jpg

And other sexual threats against comics industry members.

Although Bill claimed he was a volunteer for the con, I’m told he was actually a committee member for a while. And he was not a volunteer last year.

While, once again, expressing civilized opinions of current events is perfectly acceptable even if you disagree, using an association with one of the world’s biggest entertainment events—one which has a laudable track record for inclusion and diversity—as a platform for abusive, name calling language and threatening rape is probably not acceptable.

I reached out to Comic-Con and was told “This matter has been brought to our attention and we may be able to comment later in the day.

Update: and a Comic-con spokesman has released a statement.

 

There is no excuse for offensive or threatening behavior. The fact that it comes from a purported member of our committee is clearly upsetting. Even though we cannot control what an individual says, we can address issues that have a direct effect on our organization or
persons affiliated with our organization. We would also like to mention this individual no longer holds a volunteer position with our association. We encourage any individual who feels threatened by these comments or others to seek assistance from law enforcement

 

.

11 COMMENTS

  1. Maybe the lesson is Think before you tweet? The upside may be that Bill has exposed himself to be the tool he really is and does not deserve to be associated with CCI…or any other organization.

  2. The Bill of Rights protects Americans from, among other things, Government censorship. It doesn’t protect antisocial morons from the social and civil consequences of vile, reprehensible comments and racist verbal attacks.

  3. This Bill Purcell fellow sounds like a shell-shocked Vietnam vet. We’ve all known the type, the kind of fella who drops to the ground & covers his head if a car backfires around him, or wakes up in the middle of the night screaming, “NO! I CAN STILL SEE THEIR EYES!” He has an enormous cop man-crush, too. He kind of gives off Larry Craig vibes. I bet his wife would likely agree with me about all of this.

  4. I guess at one point Bill Purcell called Anonymous “AIDS-infested faggots,” and actually dared them to come after him. Amazing! Will Bill Purcell and SDCC soon remember, remember the fifth of November? We’ll soon find out! They’re both probably comfortable being around folks in V For Vendetta masks. :)

  5. Hey BDP, the Viet Nam Vet PTSD reference is really uncalled for. If you actually knew anyone who served in any of the wars I kinda doubt you’d make that sort of statement. Purcell’s comments come off more as white trash, plain and simple.

  6. I too have been on the receiving end of harassment from Bill over a period of time and finally had to block him after the recent election. I notified CCI of the vile things said, but received no response. It makes me feel unsafe, as a professional, attending the convention.

  7. I hope he isn’t allowed to attend SDCC at all. I spoke out against his language on Twitter, and he verbally attacked me, even after I stopped engaging.

  8. What a wiener! I think he should be banned from SDCC!!! I encourage everyone to deluge the SDCC Facebook page with demands that he be refused entry to the convention.

Comments are closed.