TCAF is rescinding its invitation to Pink Cat, also known as Saba Moeel, due to code of conduct violations and the concerns expressed by the comics community.
TCAF initially extended a programming invitation to Moeel on the basis of their daily digital comics work on Instagram, and the personal importance that work had to one of our team members. At the time of this invitation, the organization was unaware of Moeel’s online conduct, plagiarism, or allegations of tracing. We apologize for programming and promoting this artist.
We made a mistake. As a promise to our community, we will use this as a learning moment as we move forward as an organization, and will re-examine the checks and balances we currently use to process our programming decisions.
In reading your feedback there are a few things that the organization would like to address.
TCAF does not accept money to program featured guests, ever. Those artists are selected along a wide set of criteria. Most featured guests at TCAF are funded to attend our festival through cost sharing between the festival, publishers, or international cultural agencies. No one in the TCAF organization has financial ties to Moeel.
TCAF is an organization of largely part time staff who work in a collaborative framework. When an issue of this importance is raised, it takes time for us to come together and discuss the appropriate next steps. If you want to know who we are, you can see our names on the about page of our website, and we can be reached through our public-facing email accounts, which are also on that page.
TCAF does not tolerate bullying or threats against any creators, volunteers, or attendees participating in the festival. Any member of our community who is verbally abusive, violent, or otherwise overtly unwelcoming to any other TCAF participant will be removed from the event.
If you would like to discuss this matter with us further, we can be reached at contact@torontocomics.com.
We are very proud of the line-up of artists and exhibitors we have gathered for this year’s festival, and it is our sincere hope that this error on our part does not overshadow the hard work of our team, our other guests, and our exhibitors.