‘I’m sorry. So sorry.’
TanaCon had all the traditional markings of a first-year convention; a distinct lack of organization ebbed and flowed throughout the event, but diehard YouTubers weren’t too frustrated by the amateur vibe — at first.
By 10 a.m. Friday, when TanaCon ticket buyers were told by management company Good Times that official registration would begin, the parking lot behind the Anaheim Mariott Suites hotel was already lined with fans. There were about a thousand people there, all talking excitedly about YouTubers they planned to meet once they got inside the hotel lobby. Shane Dawson, actress Bella Thorne and, of course, Tana Mongeau, the convention’s host, were some of the most popular creators scheduled to appear.
The Southern California sun was blistering, with no shade anywhere in the parking lot. No one from the event organizers or hotel staff provided water, but none of that seemed to matter. People who had lined up since 6 a.m. were admittedly feeling a little worn down by standing in line, were still excited there was an alternative to VidCon, arguably the biggest convention for YouTube creators in the world.
“It’s a better version of VidCon for sure,” a big Shane Dawson fan and TanaCon attendee who didn’t want to share their name, told Polygon while waiting in line. “Well, I can’t say that for sure because I’m not inside yet, but the idea of it is better for sure. Just the amount of access we’re going to get. And price wise! A community badge ticket for VidCon is $150. I got two VIP tickets for TanaCon for less than that, and money to spare for merch.”
The fan added that what VidCon “did to Tana was just so wrong,” alluding to the series of events that led to TanaCon’s creation in the first place.
Everything seemed fine, but in just a few hours, TanaCon would devolve into a chaotic madness that left attendees and critics on Twitter calling it the next Fyre Festival or DashCon .
Tana Mongeau is a popular YouTuber with more than 3.5 million subscribers and a strong following on Instagram. More importantly, she’s an influencer with a large group of highly recognizable influencer friends. Her videos switch back and forth between elaborate stories (some of which have been called out as exaggerated or total lies) regular vlogs, and collaborations with those aforementioned famous friends. Mongeau has painted a version of her world that people want to be a part of, singlehandedly creating a level of FOMO (fear of missing out) culture, making everyone want to be a part of her inner circle.
Mongeau posted a couple of videos earlier this year that called out VidCon for not giving her a “featured creators” badge last year. That badge would have provided more security for Mongeau walking through public spaces near the convention. Not having the badge helped create what Mongeau called a chaotic, bad experience.
“If I were running an event that was based upon creators meeting their fans, and the entire premise of your event, where the entire mission statement of your event is where creators and fans can finally meet, if this creator shows up with millions of followers and hundreds of people are there… why wouldn’t you just print another stupid little fucking badge,” Mongeau said in the video above.
Former VidCon CEO and YouTuber Hank Green addressed Mongeau’s video and her frustrations, and asked that Mongeau ask her fans not to harass a VidCon team member, who was on the receiving end of their backlash.
“The online video community is lucky to have a huge number of talented and popular creators, and VidCon is lucky to be able to work with so many of them,” Green wrote in the comments section of Mongeau’s video. “The only bad part about that for VidCon is that, since we can’t feature everyone, creators who have active, enthusiastic communities who are wonderful and make fantastic stuff sometimes end up unsupported in public spaces, creating situations that are dangerous for creators and fans alike. We work to keep situations like that from escalating.
“We understand that this might seem overboard from the outside, but it’s the call we felt was right,” Green said.
Still, Mongeau was upset about the perceived shade she was thrown, and her quip about running a convention quickly became a reality. Mongeau and her team started working on creating TanaCon, an event that came together in a couple of months. The concept was relatively simple: everyone and no one would be a featured creator. TanaCon would be a fan-first, creator-focused experience — something that she believed VidCon wasn’t capable of providing.
“I wanted to throw a con where everyone is a featured creator,” Tana said while on stage before a panel at TanaCon, much to the uproarious support of her fans. “I wanted a con for bad bitches. TanaCon would be nothing without bad bitches.”
That was the message reiterated throughout the day by Mongeau, her friends and even people in the crowd. People truly believed that TanaCon wasn’t just an alternative to VidCon, but it was the only convention that really took fans’ best interests to heart.
“Everyone is so supportive of each other here,” Emma, a young fan who managed to get inside the hotel after four hours and didn’t want to give her last name, told Polygon. “We don’t even know each other, but we’re bonding over supporting Tana and coming out here. I’m making more friends here than I ever have at VidCon, and so far it’s a really good atmosphere. It’s way better than VidCon right now.”
That was around 1 p.m. Thousands of people who bought badges were still waiting in the parking lot trying to get in, and it still wasn’t too packed inside. It was relatively quiet. There was quite a bit of room for people to sit down and walk around the main ballroom.
Outside was a different story. Reports of people getting nauseous or feeling faint from heat exhaustion started making the rounds on Twitter. People were getting antsy, but most fans Polygon spoke to in the morning and early afternoon were willing to wait it out to show support for their favorite creators.
“Just knowing that I’ve watched Tana for so long, getting the chance to finally see her and meet her and support her own convention is important to me,” Kerry, a young fan who also didn’t want to share her last name, told Polygon while standing in line. “I’m just so proud of her. TanaCon is fucking better and VidCon fucked up. TanaCon is such a big improvement for her, and like, I’m so proud of her for taking a stand.”
“Tana worked so hard for VidCon and then they just fucking banned her,” Isabelle, a friend of Kerry, said, reiterating what Mongeau said in a previous video. “That wasn’t fair. Why not just say a big ‘fuck you’ to VidCon? She doesn’t need them.”
Some fans were angry on behalf of Tana, and that led to a very physical show of support at TanaCon. Other fans just wanted to get a close-up selfie with Dawson or Thorne. As the afternoon progressed, it became apparent to everyone that everything was getting out of control. Thousands upon thousands of unregistered fans showed up in the parking lot, and reports spread on Twitter that they tried to rush the door.
Pre-registered fans, people who waited in the heat for multiple hours, started yelling and complaining, demanding refunds for their wasted time. Mongeau used Twitter and Instagram to try to quell people’s frustrations, but provided few updates as things got worse, but it eventually all came to a head when they were told to shut down the event for the day. It became a major safety concern, Mongeau tweeted, and people were concerned that if things got out of hand, it could result in someone getting trampled.
“In a meeting [right now] almost done making sure tomorrow will be safe and organized for every person who has a ticket,” Mongeau tweeted early Saturday morning . “Unfortunately what made today so chaotic was 15,000 unticketed people showing up outside.. If you have a ticket I want to meet you and give you a promised show. Every person who entered their phone number with their ticket will be texted information and I will be updating you once I make sure everything can be done safely. Ticketed people. No outside mobs.”
Though outside mobs were part of the issue, people also expressed concerns over the lack of space inside the hotel for the pre-registered fans.
“It’s really hectic,” Emma said, sitting on the floor inside TanaCon’s main ballroom. “We keep getting switched into different rooms. It’s so hectic. No one knows what’s going on.”
It felt like it went from being painstakingly empty, as security and event organizers tried to figure out how to get everyone in, to overwhelming in a split second.
