SPJA Officially Responds to Criticisms

The SPJA, organizing body behind Anime Expo, has issued two official responses to accusations of mismanagement recently made by former SPJA president Mike Tatsugawa.

The first statement softens an earlier threat of lawsuit against Mr. Tatsugawa with the statement, “SPJA at this current time does not have plans to seek legal action against Mr. Tatsugawa, provided that Mr. Tatsugawa ceases resorting to slanderous, defamatory, and untrue remarks, and provided that the SPJA is able to contain the damage caused by Mr. Tatsugawa’s comments, the extent of which is still not known.”

The second statement addresses specific accusations made by Mr. Tatsugawa. Most notably:

The SPJA statement confirms that SPJA Board of Directors members are given $1200 per year to cover expenses incurred while conducting SPJA business. SPJA states that this payment is minimal and not enough to reimburse full board of director annual expenses.

The SPJA confirms that CEO Jennifer Pon was paid $30,000 for her work in organizing Anime Expo 2002. This payment was voted on by the Board of Directors which Ms. Pon chairs.

The SPJA confirms that an unspecified number of SPJA directors do have unspecified connections to the professional anime industry. This vague statement claims that these industry connections are not influential over SPJA decisions.

Source: Anime News Network