Another day, another drama plaguing the Spider-Man: Lotus fan film. This time, the film’s creator and director, Gavin J. Konop, deleted his social media accounts with no warning. Not only does this leave the film’s release up in the air, but it looks like Konop may have taken all the fan-funded money and run.This comes just over a month after a major controversy rocked the film. Several leaks emerged showing that both the film’s star, Warden Wayne, and Konop had a history of using racial and ableist slurs. While both attempted some damage control by offering “explanations” as to why they used such language, the damage was done and the once highly anticipated fan-film became mired by controversy.Now, Konop has seemingly vanished from social media. When visiting the director’s Twitter page, you are greeted with the classic “Something went wrong” message accompanied by a blank profile. While he has been silent on the account since the racist remarks emerged, deleting the account seems an ominous sign.
One user decided to message Konop and ask what was going on. To their surprise, the director responded saying that they are working on something to "address everything in full". It seems Konop is taking time to make sure that they are in a "healthy place" before speaking on all the controversy surrounding them and the film. Konop then apologizes for the sudden silence and hopes that the upcoming video will make up for all the confusion.
It seems odd that Konop would delete their social media with no warning only to plan a later video explaining everything. Why not simply tweet out the news to keep fans from worrying about their money and the film's release? Could this all be a publicity stunt to try and generate good press for the film? Only time will tell.