Update: EPCON takes down Eddie Griffin’s picture from its Facebook page after ‘drama’ over announcement

An announcement Saturday by the El Paso Comic Con (EPCON) that actor/comedian Eddie Griffin will host one of its conventions in March has caused a bit of a stir with some fans.

Some fans commented on the post on EPCON’s Facebook page that there’s no way Griffin could be in El Paso March 7-9 for EP-CON’s Spring convention, El Paso In Comics (EPIC), because he is performing his act in London on March 7.

Ann Flagella, president and CFO of Front of the Bus Inc. which books Griffin’s appearances, said in email to ABC-7 that, “No he will not be in El Paso. This is a lie.”

Julian Lawler, founder and promoter of EPCON, said in an email to ABC-7 asking for comment, that “Mr. Griffin is scheduled to be here March 8 and 9.”

In a second email to ABC-7 Flagella denied Griffin would be in El Paso at all March 7-9, stating Griffin “will be in London until the 10th.”

ABC-7 asked Lawler in the email requesting comment on the Griffin situation if other announced guests for EPIC are coming to El Paso and how many of the announced guests for EPIC are already signed and under contract to appear at EPIC.

Lawler only answered the question about Griffin appearing in El Paso. Announced guests for EPIC include Shannon Elizabeth, Charles Baker, Michael Jai White, Dave Barclay, Corey Dee Williams, Deep Roy, Stephen Costantino, and Erik Bauersfeld.

A few comments questioning Griffin’s appearance were either hidden or deleted from EPCON’s Facebook post on his appearance and EPCON posted the comment “If you don’t have nothing positive to post, pls stay off our page. Thank you.”

One comment by a Kevin Marshburn, captured in a screengrab shortly after noon Sunday, said “guys the posters look nice but how can we know for sure that this wont be another mass walkout from celebs?”

Early Monday morning, EPCON posted on its Facebook page that it was removing Griffin’s picture.

“Considering today’s drama over the Eddie Griffin announcement, we’re going to take his image off the FB page,” the EPCON Facebook post reads. “Sometimes several agents are used to book shows and they are not always on the same page. So we think its safer to take it down until all the details are sorted out. Until today we were not aware Mr. Griffin had a show on March 7th in London, of all places! So stay tuned…we are still looking forward to an excellent show. “

EPCON 2013’s headliner MIchael Rooker, of “The Walking Dead” fame, was announced long before the September date but then cancelled due to filming of “Guardians of the Galaxy.” Another “Walking Dead” actor, IronE Singleton, also cancelled his appearance at EPCON 2013.

Some actors who were guests at EPCON in 2012 claimed they did not get paid according to their contracts.

Michael Biehn, known for his roles in “Terminator,” “Aliens,” and “Tombstone,” and his wife, actress Jennifer Blanc-Biehn told ABC-7 in Sept. 2012 they did not get paid the full amount according to their contract and said other actors also were not paid the full amount. Read more on this dispute at http://bit.ly/1iDJ5vW and http://bit.ly/LNtXjz

On Sept. 12, 2012, just days before EPCON, Dave Prowse, the actor who physically portrayed Darth Vader in the Star Wars films, said he would not be making it to EPCON as he had been billed for several months on the official EPCON website and on its Facebook page.

Early on Sept. 12, 2012- EPCON organizers announced via their Facebook page that Marina Sirtis, Prowse, and McKenzie Westmore were no longer coming to EPCON.

“McKenzie Westmore is still filming Face/Off and cannot get away….even though she made every attempt to attend. It’s unfortunate but we still have plenty of awesome guests!” the Facebook post stated.

Prowse, however, told a different story.

“Please note Dave is not appearing at EPCON in El Paso,” a statement read on Prowse’s website on Sept. 12, 2012. “Dave had not heard anything from the organizer and we removed the event from this appearance page ages ago. The show organizer has been aware that Dave is not a guest at the show for a while. We sent several requests to the organizer to inform ticket buyers that Dave is not attending the show so that fans do not show up to see Dave and be disappointed. They did not do that. We requested again today that they post something to ticket buyers and they posted that Dave is a last minute cancellation, which is not true. We posted an explanation to fans on the EPCON facebook page, but our post was deleted and we are now blocked from posting the explanation again. If you are a ticket holder for this show, please accept Dave’s apologies for any inconvenience caused, but this is the fault of the organizer and not Mr. Prowse.”

A later post on EPCON’s Facebook page elaborated on Prowse not appearing at the convention.

“For the record, Dave Prowse did not cancel on EPCON 2012….we’ve hand some problems with his overall arrangements and we knew for some time that his trip was not going to be possible….but we held out hoping it could be arranged last minute. But alas….it didn’t work out. All of our obligations to the Sith Lord will be met and hopefully we can schedule him another visit to the Sun City. Stay tuned!” EPCON said in that Facebook status.