Anime Expo 2020 Has Been Cancelled

Anime Expo, which is the largest and one of the most well known anime conventions in the United States, has been cancelled as a result of the ongoing 2020 pandemic.

Anime Expo was scheduled to take place July 2nd-5th in Los Angeles, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic they’ve been forced to pull the plug on the 2020 event.  This would have been their 29th convention, but they plan on coming back to celebrate their 30th anniversary in 2021. 

This announcement marks the second major summer convention to announce a cancellation today, with San Diego Comic-Con having announced their cancellation this morning.

The organizers posted the following announcement on their website: 

This is a day my team and I hoped wouldn’t come, but it is with a heavy heart that I am announcing the cancellation of Anime Expo 2020. Our utmost concern is for the health and safety of our amazing Anime Expo community. We understand your disappointment as we are anime fans first and foremost too. As you can imagine, this was one of the most difficult decisions we have had to make in the 29 years of Anime Expo.

With the COVID-19 situation continually changing, as well as more restrictions in place worldwide and in our host city Los Angeles, we can’t in good faith move forward with this year’s event. We know it will affect all of you differently and we did not come to this decision lightly.

[…]

Badge holders will have the option to receive a full refund or to have their badges rolled over to AX 2021. As this is a big undertaking, please give us time to get the process solidified and stay tuned for more information in the coming days. Exhibitors and artists can expect to receive information via email sometime next week.

Hotel room reservations booked through ConferenceDirect in the AX official hotel block will be automatically cancelled. If you booked a room outside the AX hotel block, please contact your hotel directly.

It remains our goal to provide fans and industry partners from around the world with a safe space to come together to celebrate and share our love of anime. We are committed to bringing you the best of the best next year as we return to Los Angeles for our 30th anniversary on July 2-5, 2021!

As I have said before, we are in this together. We love and support our community and know Anime Expo is an event like no other. Each summer, Anime Expo allows all of us to connect and share our love of anime and Japanese pop culture.

Just like SDCC, this isn’t exactly a surprise, but it’s still fairly devastating.  Anime Expo was my first convention back when I was a teenager and, even though I haven’t attended the con in over 15 years, it holds a very special place in my heart.  This convention taught me what it was like to plan for and attend major cons, and it sparked my passion for all things convention related for the past 20 years of my life. 

I wish them well and hope they get to celebrate their 30th anniversary in style.

Author: Angel Wilson

Angel is the admin of The Geekiary and a geek culture commentator. They earned a BA in Film & Digital Media from UC Santa Cruz. They have contributed to various podcasts and webcasts including An Englishman in San Diego, Free to Be Radio, and Genre TV for All. They’ve also written for Friends of Comic Con and is a 2019 Hugo Award winner for contributing fanfic on AO3. They identify as queer.

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