The Big Flop - TanaCon: YouTube's Fyre Festival with Milly Tamarez & Alise Morales | 7

Episode Date: October 9, 2023

YouTuber Tana Mongeau tries to take down VidCon by hosting a convention of her own on the exact same day: TanaCon. Unfortunately poor planning and hilariously bad gift bags lead to horrible sunburns and huge disappointment. TanaCon was over before you could say, “Like and subscribe”. Misha is joined by Milly Tamarez & Alisa Morales (The Betches Sup Podcast) to break down this bafflingly big flop.Follow The Big Flop on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to The Big Flop early and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to The Big Flop early and ad-free. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. It's the summer of 2018. A YouTuber who goes by the handle PlainRockV Vlogs is waiting in a Marriott parking lot. But he's not sitting in a car blasting tunes and his AC. Oh, no, no, no. The sun just came up, so we're probably all going to get sunburned. Instead, he's crawling underneath a pickup truck.

Ugh, I need some shade. It's been over two hours now. Ugh, I need some shade. It's been over two hours now. He's one of 5,000 people standing in line in the parking lot waiting for admission to the first ever TanaCon. It's a convention created by Tana Mongeau, a YouTube superstar. See, she started TanaCon to outshine the famous YouTube convention VidCon, which is going on at the exact same time. Yeah, these lines are larger than VidCon's lines for sure. And then one of the organizers comes out to tell the very angry crowd that the day's event has been canceled.

TanaCon is what happens when ego meets ineptitude. And it goes up in flames faster than you can say, like and subscribe. We are on a sinking ship. From Wondery and at Will Media, this is The Big Flop, where we chronicle the greatest flubs, fails, and blunders of all time. I'm your host, Misha Brown, social media superstar and king of all things petty vendetti at Don't Cross a Gay Man. And today, we're talking about SantaCon. Hello, I'm Emily and I'm one of the hosts of Terribly Famous, the show that takes you

inside the lives of our biggest celebrities. And they don't get much bigger than the man who made badminton sexy. Okay, maybe that's a stretch, but if I say pop star and shuttlecocks, you know who I'm talking about. No? Short shorts? Free cocktails? Careless whispers? Okay, last one. It's not Andrew Ridgely. Yep, that's right. It's Stone Cold icon George Michael. From teen pop sensation to one of the biggest solo artists on the planet, join us for our new series, George Michael's Fight for Freedom.

From the outside, it looks like he has it all. But behind the trademark dark sunglasses is a man in turmoil. George is trapped in a lie of his own making with a secret he feels would ruin him if the truth ever came out. Follow Terribly Famous wherever you listen to your podcasts or listen early and ad-free on Wondery Plus on Apple Here to join me in our own mini convention to discuss the chaos of TanaCon are two hosts of the Betches' Sup podcast, Elise Morales and Millie Tamirez. Welcome to the show. So ready to talk flops? Yeah, I love talking flops. Before we dive into TanaCon, can y'all talk a little bit about your podcast?

So the sub-podcast is Millie and I, and then also Amanda Duberman, who is the head of news at Betches. We go on twice a week, and we try to hit all the biggest topics in news and politics and bring as much humor to them as we can, you know, sometimes. You can't. Yeah. You have to laugh so you don't cry, is what we say. I really relate to your podcast because I have a very similar approach to my social media of using humor as a tool to, like, have these difficult conversations around politics and culture and make them more palatable.

So I can tell that we're going to have a very good time talking about TanaCon then. So first, let's give our listeners a quick 101 on Tana before we begin. Do you know Tana Mongeau or do you have any familiarity with her? No, I'm coming in clean. I wanted to hear the story from you. All right, well, let's get dirty. I know. If there was a baby that was just born, I have just as much knowledge as that baby. So she is 25 years old. She is a pretty, young, white girl with bleach blonde hair who makes big,

brash videos. Got it. Her page includes the tagline, quote, I'm not a narcissist. I just have a lot of really good stories, end quote. Okay. Okay, that's not even what a narcissist is. You don't know what narcissist means. And also, I don't believe you. So she's also known for getting arrested for underage drinking at Coachella in 2017, where she then sold t-shirts with her mugshot on it for $28. I mean, go off.

Okay, that's entrepreneurial. That's boss. That's a businesswoman. She was also in a relationship with Jake Paul. Oh, no. And then had a wedding, although it turns out it wasn't actually a legal wedding and just a publicity stunt. For all the listeners who don't know Jake Paul, he's a social media star, brother to Logan Paul, and recently known for an accusation of sexual

assault. So, yeah. So, her followers love how blunt she is. Oh, God. But sometime in her early career, her content would veer out of the blunt territory and into the problematic slash racist territory. Funny how that pipeline works. Yeah. Also, anyone who's like blunt, I'm like red flag. For example, she used the N-word in her social media pages. And then once when she did that, she dismissed fellow YouTuber Colin Barry when he told her it was upsetting to him.

She later apologized, but I kind of feel like this is all definitely worse than marrying Jake Paul. Yeah, and it's hard to do something worse than marrying Jake Paul, and then it's like, oh, no, this is actually not the worst thing you've done. No. marrying Jake Paul, and then it's like, oh, no, this is actually not the worst thing you've done. No. Fun fact, she was briefly in a thruple with actress Bella Thorne. What? But it didn't work out.

These are the most insane details I have ever— This is like a social media mad lib person. Yeah, they just threw it all together. Like, if you wrote a TV show about this, I'd be like, too much. Yeah, I'd be like, AI wrote this? AI wrote this. So yeah, Tana's a rich text for sure. She says she created her YouTube channel in 2015 as a way to channel her angst and to escape from the emotional abuse she received at home. But honestly, her channel feels like it may have veered off from that starting point.

So now I would like to play a little game so that we can further get to know Tana. So in this game, I'm going to name some of her YouTube stories, and you're going to guess whether it's a real story or one that we just made up. Okay. So the first one, my psychotic sugar daddy story. I would say that's real. I'm going to say yes, she's giving I have a psychotic sugar daddy just based on what I've heard so far. Ding, ding, ding. Yes, that one is real.

All right. Next one. Meet my new boyfriend. I'm going to say this is fake. Next one. Meet My New Boyfriend. I'm going to say this is fake. Yeah.

I'm going to also go fake just because it seems like the other titles have had so many more descriptors. We've got adjectives in there. That's more SEO. Okay. Okay. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. It was fake. Y'all are so smart because even though that's a fake title, it's only fake because the real title is meet my new boyfriend.

Then in brackets, we broke up since this video. See, that's what we're saying. If you had the brackets, I would have believed you. You had her number so quickly. All right. One last one just for fun. Okay. I got caught having sex on a Ferris wheel.

Honestly, just for my own mental health, I'm going to go fake because I'm very scared of Ferris wheels and I'm concerned about the mechanics. And so I'm just choosing to believe for myself that that is not real. I'm going to say yes. And because she likes to say the N-word so much, she actually got this idea from season four of Insecure where Issa Rae fucks the guy in the Ferris wheel at Coachella. Well, at least cover your ears because that one was in fact real. I know. No, and it's like creaking.

Oh no. Oh no. Have I painted a clear picture? Clearer than I ever could have imagined. And that's just getting to know her. So there's a lot of conflicting opinions about the flop that is Tana Khan. There are people who see Tana as the victim. There are people who see Tana as the villain.

And I'm not here to judge. Sorry. Of course I am. I'm judging people all the time. I was like, I don't know. Now that's a fake title, Misha. So however you feel about her, there's one thing that's for sure. The TanaCon origin story begins at VidCon 2016. So first, are you familiar with VidCon? Yeah, that's like the YouTuber convention. Yeah. So it's a big yearly convention in Anaheim, California. It's for internet stars, fans, and brands. Started in 2010 by Hank and John Green, who are like YouTube OGs. It's huge.

Tens of thousands of people go. So Tana, growing up as a kid in Las Vegas, she was obsessed with VidCon. Her childhood was tough. Her favorite YouTube creators gave her support and love that she didn't feel she was getting at home. She says her father screamed at her. He was cheap. He was rude in public. And that she was embarrassed to be seen with him. That's really tough, but also her dad does sound like five of my exes.

Yeah. That's really tough, but also her dad does sound like five of my exes. Yeah. In 2019, her family actually sued her for defamation, and she had to sign a non-disparagement agreement. Wow. And cheap, I'm just like... Yeah, cheap hit me in an interesting way. I'm like, I relate to the pain because when I was younger, my parents bought me a rage scooter instead of a razor scooter. And I was shamed heavily for my off-brand scooter. And it was like bigger than

all the other scooters and people would like trade wheels and I couldn't because my scooter was too big. So I understand that hurt, but I don't know if I would come for my dad like that. Well, can I just say that when I was a little kid, I asked my dad if we can get the Little Rascals on VHS. And what I got was from the dollar store, Little Rascals from 1910, black and white. I mean, still funny, but you don't have to talk to me about cheating.

So she decided to start making videos in 2015 on YouTube. And she did start gaining fans fast, like hundreds of thousands a month. And keep in mind at this point, she is only 17 years old. So, I mean, what would you have done with hundreds of thousands of fans at 17? I just can't imagine that I would want my 17-year-old thoughts to be imprinted on the internet forever. I agree. And I personally, now as an adult, I really feel like there should be child labor laws with YouTube creators. Yeah. Well, now ever since her early days of watching YouTube celebrities, she's been obsessed with VidCon. She wanted to go forever, but she couldn't afford to. And now that she's actually become a YouTube star, she's like,

maybe now it's my time. So in 2016, she begs her manager to let her go to VidCon. And her manager is like, fine, okay, sure. And at first, the VidCon organizers agree to make Tana a featured creator, which basically means she'll be on panels. She'll have meet and greets with fans. She'll basically be like YouTube Cinderella. Except when VidCon releases the lineup beforehand, her name's not on the featured creator list. Whoops. And then,

would you believe, in 2017, VidCon did the same thing. The organizers later said they were being conservative because of things Tana had said and done in the past. Huh. Wait, Misha, are you saying that actions have consequences? Wait, Misha, are you saying that actions have consequences? Sometimes when you put out content that upsets people, there are repercussions. Wow. I mean, we talk about this on Betches all the time. Half of the things that happen in news and politics are people, mostly men, which is actually phenomenal that Tana is breaking the ceiling.

But it's just people who like, don't understand that you can be the person that says and does whatever you want, or you can be the person that makes money. But you can't do both, honey. So she's a little bummed. But she decides fine, okay, whatever, I'll go as a normie. But when she gets to VidCon, she is swarmed by fans. I mean, mostly screaming tweens. To be fair, it was like pretty crazy. There are like a lot of kids there.

So Tana asks the security guards if they could issue her a featured creator badge so that she could escape into the special creator lounges or hallways. But the security guards are like, no way. You got to get the hell out of here because you're a safety hazard. Those are my words, not theirs. Yeah. Here, listen to her tell a story from a 78 minute long rant that she put out to her millions of followers titled, why I won't be attending VidCon 2018, a rant. About 20 minutes into the mob and like 20 minutes of taking pictures and stuff in the hotel lobby security comes out They grab me by my arm and they pull us into this room and they're like listen. This is a safety hazard

You can't do this I didn't know it was that big of a deal Obviously if I'm causing a mob like this and I need to walk through the featured creator hallways and stuff like that You'll just give me a featured creator pass right and whoever this guy was like the security and the person with VidCon He just looks at me and he laughs and he's like oh no, sweetie If you're not a featured creator, you can either go up to one of your friend's rooms or something like that, or you can basically get the fuck off the premises. She sounded exactly as how I thought that she would.

Yeah. And she was 17. Like she sounds like a grown woman at that point. So in 2018, when Tana made her VidCon rant video, she would be around 20. I understand her point of it being unsafe with a mob. Yeah. Yeah, but it's just kind of like she made her bed. That is a consequence. And it's just tough that instead of learning the lesson of like, I shouldn't be a piece of shit, it's like, this event sucks. That makes a lot of sense. I mean, I feel that she's pissed at being treated like a second-class influencer. Yeah. Yeah, of course.

So overall, this happens three times to her. In 2016, VidCon says she will be a featured creator, and then she's not. And then she says VidCon promises she'll be a featured creator in 2017 after a big fight, and then they don't. And then they say that they'll give her a featured creator status in 2018. And once again, they don't. Not only that, Tana says they actually ban her for life. And that's when she makes her rant video. And it's 78 minutes long, you said?

Yeah, 78 minutes long. Wow. But that's because Tana's fans love her. They'll listen to her for 78 minutes. I mean, they mobbed her at VidCon. So their ears perk up when Tana ends her video with something that sounds a little like a battle cry. I think all of the rebelled people and all of the unwanted people should host a little meet and greet in Anaheim, California on the same days as VidCon. I'd love to do it. I mean, should she do it? Sounds like she's gonna do it. Sounds like she's gonna do it. So on a scale of petty to vendetti, where do we rank this? I think this is Vendetti and also I'm going to say

this is Sketchy. I mean, with the name of the big flop. Well, lucky for Tana, she's not alone. Of course, she's not alone. She has 3.5 million followers. But one of them is a guy named Michael Wiest. He runs an event planning company called Good Times Entertainment. So he got his start creating events for Vine stars back in the day. And guess what? He's only 21 years old. Oh, this is going to be great.

It's funny because it's like, you have to walk that line between like wanting new, fresh ideas. This is YouTube. It's a children's medium to some extent. But also you need to have a couple older people who have actually run an event before involved just to make sure that like things are running properly.

You can't even rent a car without a cosigner before 25 because your brain is literally not fully developed yet. Yeah. It's giving fire fest, babes. Well, they decide to team up and they get to planning a brand new rival event called TanaCon. I mean, do you have chills? I have chills.

Not only do they decide to do TanaCon the same days as VidCon, they also decide to have it in the same city, Anaheim, California. So Tana's going to invite all her fellow famous YouTube friends, but guess what? In order to fit their petty timeline and rival VidCon, they have to get this whole thing planned in less than three months. If you're trying to plan a rival event to VidCon, my guess is that they start planning the next year's VidCon the moment the previous year's VidCon ends. It's like in Christmas movies when they're like, well, we've got 364 days to Christmas. We better get rocking. But she only started planning after her manager told her VidCon was banning her for life. So one of the first people that Tana turns to is fellow YouTuber Shane Dawson.

Oh, I've heard of him. Yeah, so he started making videos back in 2008 when he was 19. Lots of comedy, pop culture, impersonation type stuff. He does also have a checkered past. Early in his YouTube career, he did a whole bunch of blackface videos and then defended it. Awesome. And then apologized for it. He also used the N-word while in blackface. Wow. Oh, wow. She has a type. It's like a pyramid scheme in MLM, if you will, of racist content creators. I'm excited to see where this goes. I feel like it's going to work out, Misha. I'm sorry.

For better or for worse, he is a sort of mentor slash father figure to Tana, even though he's just 10 years older. And let me tell you, I question Jane's paternal judgment, because when Tana asks, he says yes. I mean, he is a big get for her, though. People love him, and he hasn't been to a convention in years, and he has 19 million followers. Yes. That's so many. So, Tana and Wiest of Good Times Entertainment, they start having regular meetings to brainstorm their grand plans. And Wiest thinks this is going to be the event of the century. So in the months leading up to June 2018, he hires a documentary crew to film the planning process because obviously this is going to be a historical event. I mean, for me, it's right up there with like the signing of the

Declaration of Independence. It's just like Pearl Harbor. It's Tyra Banks being on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Somehow a little less racist than those other things. Just slightly, but continue. On the plus side, the fact that it's memorialized in film means you can hear lots of juicy tidbits. Like this one from Tana con what really happened i want a booth of people glittering people giving people glitter tears like all at the event so everyone and then they go back to vidcon they're wearing tana con's glitter tears on their fucking face like i want that 100 for a fact that definitely puts this in the vendetti category because it's like there's no purpose to this event

other than to try to troll vidcon for not bringing her in so she's like i want anyone who's been at to my event to be branded with glitter tears that will never come off. They did want a mugshot boo to pay homage to when she was arrested for underage drinking at Coachella. But that's like all I really see that's not strictly vendetta. In classic vintage MTV era, there was a show called My Super Sweet 16. Yes. And this energy that clip is very much giving. I want to come in at a Roy's Roy's, mom, you're a bitch. Yep.

Yeah, exactly. Now, remember, to maximize their petty vendetti, they've set this the same weekend as VidCon, June of 2018. So this is not an easy time to find a venue. Wiest books the Anaheim Marriott. The hotel tells them that 1,200 people is the capacity they can hold. But as you can hear in the documentary, Wiest and Tana have other plans. I have it set at 5,200 right now.

I love that for us. It would be really, really cool to have people outside waiting to get in. Like, people love to be oppressed outside. They're just like, I waited in the rain. Like, they love that shit. I love that shit. People don't love that shit. People do not love to be oppressed outside.

No, no, no. People get really mad about that, actually. So, just so we're clear, Weiss just said he set the number of tickets they can sell to a limit of 5,200. And remember, the Marriott has a capacity of 1,200. So if we do the math, that's four times the tickets than what the venue can physically hold. No.

That's rude. Not only rude, irresponsible. Are people paying for these tickets? Funny you should bring that up. So they have a simply brilliant idea for two ticket tiers. rude, irresponsible. Are people paying for these tickets? Funny you should bring that up. So they have a simply brilliant idea for two ticket tiers. They sell around 200 free tickets, which are actually $1. But the vast majority of tickets sold are VIP tickets that go for $65 a pop. And they come with a complimentary goodie bag promised to be worth four times as

much as the ticket. Fancy. Okay. Of course, there's a bit of a problem here. If basically everyone's a VIP, then no one's a VIP. And let me tell you, this event is not going to make anyone feel like a very important person. Except for Tana. Yeah. Yeah, except for Tana. So, I mean, if you were to go to a YouTube convention and you paid $65 for a ticket, what would you expect out of that event? I would expect to be let in to the event. Wow, Elise, you really want a lot.

The door has to open. That's a good start. $65, realistically speaking, I want to meet the people I want to see. I want to be able to take a picture with these people and shake a hand and do fun stuff all day. We want to be entertained. So the big day is upon them. The first person to get to Tanacon arrives at 3.30 a.m. A few hours later, the line is snaking around the Anaheim Marriott parking lot.

People have driven or flown hours to get there. And pretty soon, there are thousands of people outside. They're all so excited to be here, they can't wait for the big event. But they do wait. And wait. And wait. And they just keep waiting. So remember, these are people who have paid and pre-registered,

but they wait for hours. There's no food. There's no water. Oh my God. So contrary to what Tana and we said, it turns out people do not love to be oppressed outside because the fans start to get pissed. You can hear tides begin to turn on a vlog by a YouTuber, Plain Rock Vlogs.

I wish I was at VidCon right now instead of this. And note, it's been over three hours now ever since the convention opened. Let us in! Me too! Okay, I'm pretty sure a riot's about to happen. It was a little grainy in there, but that screaming, they were all shouting, we want Tana, we want Tana. I don't even understand what the plan was because at conventions like this,

people come in and they stick around. So it's like once you hit 1,200, how many people are they expecting to even leave and enter to service the line? The math doesn't math here. No, surely it doesn't. Well, Wiest is hustling back and forth in and out of the convention. He was trying to give everyone like a sense of order. But he's picked a weird way to try to instill confidence because he's puttering around on a Segway.

Oh my God. He's just scooting around in a frenzy, a little 21-year-old on wheels, and people are furious. I mean, but who can blame the crowd for being upset because here in America, you're only supposed to wait in line for hours when it's time to vote.

Yeah. Well. Zing. People are feeling like they've been burned. No, literally burned because they're like standing in an unshaded parking lot in California. Yeah. So they started tweeting out pictures of their sunburns. Do you want to see?

Oh, man. Yes. I'll see. Yeah. Show it. No. Oh, wow. Wow.

Yeah. Could you describe what you're seeing? A grown man, number one. Because I was kind of expecting to see, like, a young girl, but it's a grown man with the brightest red sunburned face. You need Super Group SPF 50, babe. Yeah. I remember reading a comment on a YouTube video about TanaCon and someone said,

I mean, they got exactly what they were asking for. They got a tan and they got conned. Yep. That is real. Some people even passed out from heat exhaustion. Here's a couple of attendees who talked about their experience in a YouTube video they posted titled, People didn't bring us water until like the third hour in. Yeah. That's when like people started coming out and like, water, water, water. I'm like, okay, yeah, thank God. God bless you.

I was about to pass out, which actually some people did pass out. Oh, crazy. Yeah. There's one girl actually some people did pass out. Oh, crazy. Yeah. There's one girl that said her friend passed out. I know people were having anxiety attacks, especially when everything began to crumble. Crumble. I'm interested to hear what was going on inside. If you were one of the lucky people to make it inside, congrats.

You now get to pace up and down an overcrowded Marriott hallway while security guards yell at you. Footage from inside makes it look like there are two contradictory things going on. It seems both extremely packed and extremely boring. There appear to be almost no booths, no events. It's kind of this like survivalist vibe. So these poor tweens, they don't know where to find the YouTubers they've come here to see. They're just jammed into this hallway with no food, nothing to drink, and security guards who keep telling them that if they leave,

they'll have to get back in line in the hot sun in the parking lot. I guess getting yelled at by security guards is kind of the Tana experience that created all of this. So that's on brand at least. Well, Tana did periodically pop up, like when she got on stage, to tell everyone inside that they are all featured creators and shares a little anecdote about the security at her event. And I took this dope ass photo with all these police officers. And Jordan walks up to me and he's like, you realize that last year, a year ago today, you were in handcuffs being taken out of VidCon.

My question is just like, what was the experience supposed to be for people? Where are the panels? Where are the booths? Where are the meet and greet? Like, where is anything? Were they all just supposed to show up to catch a glimpse of you? This is not the VIP treatment that literally over 5,000 of them paid for. But on the bright side, they are getting those swag bags they've been promised. But what was in them wasn't super great, which brings us to a game. And we're going to call it the Price is Right TanaCon Edition, also known as the Price is Wrong. So they claimed that the value of the gift bag was four times the

ticket price, which would be about $260. So we're going to play a game of the Price is Right to evaluate this. Remember, by Price is Right rules, you cannot guess over the actual value. So these were the prices given by Shane Dawson, who we'll get back to in just a minute. So the first thing they got was, how much is the physical white bag with a pink TanaCon logo on the front with shoestring handles? $5. $25? It cost them one to two cents a piece. No, to make. Oh my God. The next thing they got was a custom bracelet that says Gucci Princess. Four cents to make. $1. Shane Dawson says says one penny so we're at like five cents we're like five cents all right the third item they get one customized condom labeled tana condom

okay that has to be pricey i'm gonna say one dollar because condoms a three pack of condoms right now is like nine dollars i swear to god if you go to CVS in New York City, it's $9. I mean, not that I know. Okay. Yeah, for the rubber, for the printing, I don't know if this is a lubricated condom, but I'm going to go with $2. Well, Shane Dawson said as low as 25 cents. Okay. So, so far the most expensive thing is the condom still. Yes. And there was one last one. I'll just tell you about this one because we get the point, but it was a bunch of PETA stickers. So the PETA website has a pack of stickers costing

about $6, but I'm sure that she got them for much cheaper in bulk. But what's weird about this is she used to be a vegan, but had quit the year before, which makes the stickers even weirder than they are. Okay. That's interesting because brands love giving out free product. So with like even a half ounce of effort to be like, I have 5,000 people in Anaheim that it's going to make. Like she could have filled that bag full of actual stuff that was of value, not just cheap crap. Yeah. So if we do that math, the cost of the bag was bloop, bloop, bloop, bloop, bloop, bloop, bloop, 28 cents a bag. That's what's happening inside, and here's what's happening outside the Marriott.

Refund! Refund! Refund! This shit show couldn't get any worse! So that's hundreds of people screaming for a refund. Finally. Yeah, right? Even if I were one of the people that paid the $1, I'd be like, you're going to give me that dollar back. Well, amazingly, Michael Weiss' documentary crew keeps recording the event. They have to.

Except now he's dismounted from his little Segway and he's just openly crying, which I mean is a little sad. And then after six hours, the event is shut down by the police. So clearly there was the capacity problem. And Tana puts out a video saying they just got overwhelmed with the 20,000 people who showed up, which would be crazy if it were true. But really, they just couldn't hand the 5,000 people who showed up as expected. But great news, Tana tweets that they found a different venue that holds an extra 5,000 people

and they will have it sorted for day two of TanaCon. So the fans go back to their hotels, they apply lotion to their sunburns and hope that day two will be better. But as you can probably guess, that does not wind up being the case. So you could say that day two is even worse because it just doesn't happen at all. The second venue that they tried to book in the literal last minute falls through. Wow.

So Tana's reputation takes a big hit. through. Wow. So Tana's reputation takes a big hit. And the other creators that she invited, including Shane Dawson, who says that attending the event was the worst decision he ever made. So he's pissed that Tana Khan made him look bad to his fans. And he also probably senses an opportunity to center himself in the drama. So he creates a three-part YouTube series titled The Truth Behind TanaCon, which it is a pretty juicy watch where he toys with some conspiracy theories that like maybe Tana and Weiss deliberately made it a failure

to attract more attention. But after about three minutes of sleuthing, he's like, no, JK, this is clearly just pure incompetence. So he learns that they only hired half the number of security guards that they should have. And at the climax, records a confrontation between Tana and Weest, who both blame each other. Here's a clip. I asked you a thousand times if security was fine. I asked you a thousand times if the gift bags were fine. I asked you a thousand times if the gift bags were fine. I asked you a thousand times if every, the merch was going to be there. I asked you everything and

you said yes. He was asked a thousand times. It's also like, can she take a look at the gift bags? Yeah. And also we know that she knew that there wasn't enough capacity because we heard her saying that they were going to love that. You know, just in general, you have to be triple checking everything because your name is attached. So you get your ass up and check. And like Kim says, get your ass up and work. The video offers a rich tapestry of embarrassment and failure. But I think Shane does a pretty good job of summarizing the flop in a heart-to-heart with Tana. Here's a clip. I think it's also one of those things

that you need to learn now, which is the power you have over, like, literally, you created a convention that had your name in it, right? And because you're funny, and because I like you or love you, and because a lot of other creators love you, we all came.

Thousands and thousands of people came. It's like, that's a lot of power. Get up! Get up! Get up! And in all honesty, you used power for, like, not good. You used it to get revenge on VidCon. I mean, a broken clock is the right place to day, you know? It's just funny to me that he is correct in what he's saying, but also this event explicitly

was to get revenge on VidCon. That was very clear from the beginning when he signed up. And also he's like, I love you. We're friends. But I am going to do a video roasting you the moment that this comes out. And I am going to exploit you for clicks. Yep. Let's do a little where are they now.

So as for Tana, the next year's TanaCon went off without a hitch. Psych. The TanaCon was a one-on-one. She did it hitch. Psych. The TanaCon was a one-time wonder. She did it again. No, but she did go to VidCon the next year as a featured creator. I mean, it probably didn't hurt that Viacom runs VidCon and MTV,

where her new reality show, Tana Turns 21, was set to air. But she got her little wish. As for Wiest, four months after TanaCon, Wiest files for bankruptcy, saying he lost over $700,000 and says that he will shut down Good Times Entertainment.

He did later appear on Dr. Phil to clear his name. He says he's been cyber-bullied, branded as a scammer, and has gotten death threats since TanaCon. I mean, death threats maybe aren't necessary, but I am confused as to how he spent $700,000 on an event hall that holds 1,200 people and goodie bags worth 28 cents. I'm sorry, babe. Like, maybe you did need to go to bankrupt

because you don't know how to work with money. He does seem to be doing better now. The dust does seem to have settled around him. Michael Wiest is back to hosting events and I personally hope still cruising around on that little Segway. Maybe that was the $700,000. I don't know how much the Segway costs.

Well, here at The Big Flop, we don't like to just keep punching down at people. We do want to do some silver linings. So it didn't all crash and sunburn. There were also some good things, sort of. So Tana did observe a marriage of two fans at the event. Okay. That's cute.

Although they have since divorced and the bride roasts her own wedding on TikTok. Have a listen. I was watching the video of the wedding. Oh my God. Is it the most cringy fucking shit I've ever seen in my entire life? I'm so sorry for anyone that witnessed that. And like, it was a real marriage.

That's even the worst part. How did a porn star get ordained to marry me? Yeah, I'm like, girl, if you get married at TanaCon, you're not going to make it. The next month, TanaCon ticket buyers were offered refunds, and they got them. But I was just thinking, it doesn't really

begin to make up for hotel stays, plane tickets, and just like the dashed dreams of disappointed fans, but it is something. So, silver lining. TBH, I think that's about as much I can give you in terms of silver linings, except that it brought all of us together to talk today. Yeah, it's not about the failed social media convention.

It's the friends you make along the way. Absolutely. And I'm sure friends were made in line, too. I'm sure the connections were made between Tana fans. Let's do a little rating. So do we think this is a baby flop, a regular flop, or a mega flop? I would put this somewhere between a regular and a mega in the scheme of things. Seems like there was minimal damage or like it could have gone much, much, much, much worse.

Like it could have gone much, much, much, much worse. Yeah, I'm going to put it squarely in the regular flop category just because the refunds were issued. And because she did ultimately get what she wanted, even if she had to get in a little hot water to get there. Well, that's the story of TanaCon and Tana Mojo. Thank you to my lovely guests, Millie Tamirez and Elise Morales for joining us here on The Big Flop. And thanks to you for listening to The Big Flop. Join us next week, where me along with comedians Chelsea Devontes and Solomon Giorgio show you why when it comes to cold-pressed juice, not all press is good press. I feel like once you start calling foods poison,

it's such a slippery slope into like, this celery roux is my vaccine. If you like The Big Flop, you can listen early and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at wondery.com slash survey. The Big Flop is a production of Wondery and Atwill Media, hosted by me, Misha Brown. Produced and edited by Levi Sharp.

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