There have been some claims that #GamerGate events and panels discussing the ongoing drama between gamers and press are no longer allowed at various events in Quebec, Canada due to some efforts by an activist seeking to censor any discussion about media malpractice, corruption in journalism and press ethics.

A #GamerGate supporter going by the handle of Mug33k has been very active in fighting for proper ethics in journalism. He was one of the main individuals keeping in contact regarding the CBC and their misrepresentation of #GamerGate throughout their near year-long coverage of the event while sharing some communications between himself and the CBC French-Canadian ombudsman.

One of his latest efforts included hosting panel discussions for #GamerGate at various French-Canadian events. One of the discussions took place back on October 17th, 2015 that you can check out below.

Comic Con Québec 2015 – Gamergate Couverture Médiatique Présentation de la conférence Gamergate : couverture médiatique au Québec dans le cadre du Comic Con de Québec, le 17 octobre 2015 Diapositives en PDF / Slides in PDF : https://mug33k.com/data/documents/Gamergate-CC2015-Diapos-Slides.pdf Toutes les sources de la présentation sont disponibles sur le site web de mug33k : https://www.mug33k.com/gamergate Mug33k (prononcé mugeek) est un podcast dédié à la musique de jeux vidéo et de chiptunes animé par Laurence Tilmant-Rousseau

Mug33k had planned to host more panels at the Geekfest event in Montreal, Quebec. However, panels including discussion of #GamerGate have been prohibited, including at events he didn’t even register to attend.

In a detailed blog post, Mug33k claims that he was originally told by the Geekfest committee that it was beyond their control and there was an issue with the program itinerary. However, in a leaked e-mail by social justice activist and online blogger, Olivier LeClair, it was revealed that Geekfest coordinator Jean-Phillippe Cardin admitted that they would be canceling the #GamerGate panel due to it not being inclusive enough.

This was later verified by Oliver LeClair on his own Twitter account, where he gloated about getting the #GamerGate panels at the Geekfest event in Canada cancelled and that it was also preemptively cancelled at the Montreal ComicCon, even though Mug33k did not register to attend there. In a series of tweets Leclair states…

“I wrote to Comic Con Quebec about this GamerGate conference and they wrote me back. “It won’t happen again.” “They basically said that the lecturer lied to them about the content of the conference and they wouldn’t have allowed it. They have reviewed their politics and will make sure it won’t happen again. I am more than pleased with their answer. “I learned that he will give another conference at an event in Montreal. I wrote some emails and maybe Comic Con Quebec will help to stop it.”

According to Mug33k, he stated that he was always upfront about supporting #GamerGate, and never once misinformed anyone about the intention to talk about the events, people and actions surrounding the hashtag. This is actually true, as he was actually involved in a kerfuffle with a CBC journalist who textually attacked him about his position on #GamerGate, equating him to a holocaust denier. Part of this incident was even outlined on the CBC’s ombudsman report back on May 7th, 2015.

Mug33k also shows phone records where he talked to the event organizers over the phone about setting up a #GamerGate panel and what it would be about.

I did reach out to ask if the e-mails that LeClair shared between his correspondence with the Montreal ComicCon and Geekfest organizers was actually intended to suppress the opportunity to have a #GamerGate panel discussion at the events. According to LeClair, he facetiously addressed his intentions on Twitter with the following response…

.@WilliamUsherGB No, I only wanted to ask them if they'll serve tequila at the event. Bye. — Oʟɪᴠɪᴇʀ LᴇCʟᴀɪʀ (@Olivier_LeClair) November 24, 2015

I proceeded to reach out to the organizers of Geekfest and the Montreal ComicCon to get a better understanding of their decisions and discussions relating to the #GamerGate panels. At the time of the publishing of this article none of the other organizers or individuals involved with the events have responded.

Additionally, Mug33k has proceeded to start an e-mail campaign called Operation Tequila to get gamers to reach out and politely engage them about opening up discussion about these topics at their panels. Of course, these are private organizations and they have every right to deny certain topics. However, if they’re denying them after being fed false or misleading information, it may be important for them to get the whole truth.

I’ll update the article if there are any further responses to the issue.