Bowing to the inevitable, VidCon’s flagship U.S. edition in June has been canceled because of the coronavirus crisis.
As recently as last week, VidCon reps said it had remained a go as scheduled for Anaheim, Calif., from June 17-20. But on Monday organizers announced the U.S. confab’s cancellation.
“Unfortunately, due to the continued uncertainty surrounding COVID-19 we made the difficult decision to cancel #VidConUS,” VidCon GM Jim Louderback said in a statement posted Monday on Twitter.
VidCon, which is owned by ViacomCBS, said it is looking to stage an event in the U.S. sometime in the fall. “We are committed to bringing a VidCon US experience to our fans, creators, and the industry in 2020 and are actively working on a plan to do so this fall. We will have further details to share by June 15, 2020,” VidCon said in a statement.
VidCon said all tickets and pre-ordered merchandise that have been purchased for the 2020 event will be refunded in full by April 15, 2020, including all fees for previously canceled tickets. Tickets purchased for VidCon US 2020 will not be valid for use at future events.
Separately, the inaugural VidCon Mexico 2020 was postponed until Sept. 17-20, at Mexico City’s Citibanamex Center. (Originally it was set for April 30-May 3.) Also, the first-ever VidCon Abu Dhabi, which was to have run March 25-28, is now scheduled to take place Dec. 16-19, 2020.
First launched in 2010, the U.S. edition of the convention for internet video creators, fans and industry pros drew some 75,000 attendees to Southern California last year. VidCon was founded by Hank and John Green (of YouTube’s Vlogbrothers channel) and the conference business was acquired in 2018 by Viacom.
In a tweet Monday about the cancellation of VidCon US 2020, Hank Green said, “Sending love to all of the people I usually see at VidCon who I won’t get to hang out with this year. Let’s Skype or whatever! But mostly sending love to the people on VidCon team who spend their whole year planning this thing. They kick ass and I love them.”