For life. X pic.twitter.com/urnd6rZ0To
— Hilarie Burton (@HilarieBurton) March 29, 2018
Fan convention EyeCon announced a theme of "girl power" for an upcoming One Tree Hill con at which several of the show's actors would appear, promoting the way the show's actresses have spoken out in recent months about the systemic sexual harassment they faced on the set by OTH's creator/showrunner Mark Schwahn.
But they forgot to tell the actresses themselves, and it didn't go over so well. The resulting twitter battle involved fans on both sides and exposed a One Tree Hill actor as having been accused by multiple women and underage girls of groping and sexually harassing them at EyeCon events and still being invited back repeatedly.
It all started when a fan asked Hilarie Burton on Twitter if she would attend the event and she replied:
I'm sorry Mary. I will not be attending any Eyecon events. Ever. I personally feel exploited by their "girl power" angle, which exists at the expense of some of us who went through a difficult time on that show. They're using our sisterhood as a sales gimmick. No thanks.
— Hilarie Burton (@HilarieBurton) March 27, 2018
EyeCon then changed the color of their official twitter page to pink to demonstrate how sincere they were about supporting women and started retweeting indignant comments from its own female employees:
I’m offended by @HilarieBurton bashing EyeCon like that. I myself have been through plenty of things you will never know about, and so has many of the staff of @EyeCon3000. I’m proud to be apart of this company & I’m SO glad we are focusing on women empowerment this upcoming con
— Courtney Collins (@courtnaecollins) March 27, 2018
Thank you @SklaeSawyer
— EyeCon (@EyeCon3000) March 27, 2018
Being a company made up of mostly women we have experiences of our own. She doesn’t know us, and she doesn’t know that some of our staff has had experiences too, it is unfair of her to judge our stories as unworthy before we can even tell them.
Fans chimed in on both sides, with some supporting Burton and others attacking her as ungrateful and unwilling to acknowledge other women's experiences with abuse. Some fans even told Burton to stop complaining because THEY were victims of Schwan just like she was, since the news that he sexually harassed her and other OTH actresses had adversely affected their enjoyment of reruns.
Sophia Bush then came to her friend and co-star's defense with a long, impassioned essay blasting both EyeCon and the OTH fans who had attacked Burton:
.@HilarieBurton is my sister. Don’t fuck with her. Period.
— Sophia Bush (@SophiaBush) March 29, 2018
Pt. 1 pic.twitter.com/eAf7usSJq4
.@HilarieBurton is my sister. Don’t fuck with her. Period.
— Sophia Bush (@SophiaBush) March 29, 2018
Pt. 2 pic.twitter.com/9fX8KAX5Dp
Among her words in that essay was this statement: Don’t even get me started on the reality — which I know for a FACT — that multiple women reported a male guest of these conventions behaving inappropriately and this ‘organization’ did NOTHING. He was invited back multiple times, until more than one of us women was alerted and then jointly said expressly that we would never do another con if he were present. Again. FACT.
Other twitter users quickly revealed that the actor in question was Michael Copon, who played recurring character Felix Taggaro on One Tree Hill, and that some of the girls he was accused of sexually harassing at EyeCon conventions were as young as 14 years old. Young women stated that they had complained to EyeCon repeatedly that Copon had, among other things, groped their backsides and pressured them to come to his hotel room, but that EyeCon had continued to invite Copon to further events anyway.
Burton expressed her appreciation of Bush's words:
@SophiaBush is a WOMAN. My woman. I love her so hard. She is the kindest and most generous and supremely honest. Thanks for always being my ride or die, sis. Xxxx
— Hilarie Burton (@HilarieBurton) March 29, 2018
Finally, EyeCon CEO Kenneth Smith backed down with an apology:
— EyeCon (@EyeCon3000) March 29, 2018
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