Star Trek Actor Wil Wheaton Infected with COVID at Comic Con

Actor and writer Wil Wheaton, best known for Star Trek: The Next Generation, and an outspoken advocate for coronavirus (Covid-19) conscious behavior, has contracted the virus while attending Comic Con.

On an 11 September Instagram story, he wrote:

Hey friends, bad news.

I am extremely disappointed that I am not able to sit down with @debbiegibson tonight to talk about her memoir.

I’ve been looking forward to this for months, but I’m in no condition to be on stage or in public, because after being so careful for so long, I let my guard down at Rose city comic con last weekend, and I caught Covid for the first time.

Wheaton continued:

Wow Covid sucks. It sucks so much. Do whatever you can to prevent yourself from catching it.

I’m so annoyed, because it was so avoidable, and I’m extra pissed at myself for allowing the people who never stopped complaining about my choice to continue masking to influence my decisions about my health and my family’s health. Never again.

To everyone who was looking forward to seeing us chat tonight, I’m so sorry that I can’t be there. Knowing Debbie like I do, though, I know that she’s going to give you a magical show.

Stay healthy everyone.

Wheaton and his wife Anne Wheaton have been part of a small number of celebrities, including Morgan Fairchild and Matt McGorry, who consistently model mask wearing.

Covid risk at fan conventions

The risk of contracting coronavirus at fan events like Comic-Con were noted by social media users, with one commenting:

I hear content creators to this day referencing ‘con crud’ (getting ill after attending a con) as if it’s normalized. A con is the absolute last place I would let my guard down for this reason. As a normie I can only imagine the pressure celebrities must be under to remove their masks.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, fan conventions have been widely reported as vectors for coronavirus transmission. One of the earliest documented U.S. cases of the Omicron variant was directly linked to a fan convention. Health officials in Minnesota confirmed that the first patient who tested positive for the Omicron variant in the United States had attended Anime NYC, held in November, 2021. Following that disclosure, both the CDC and New York City health authorities issued urgent guidance urging all attendees to get tested.

‘Con Crud’

Long before the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the high risk of exposure to pathogens at fan conventions was so ubiquitously known, that post-convention illness had its own name: “Con Crud.” This is often attributed to the physical strain of travel, sleep deprivation, and exposure to pathogens in densely-packed venues. At Dragon Con 2024, one of the most widely attended fan conventions in the U.S., attendees described illnesses circulating in the days following the event. On Reddit, useres posted reports of sore throats, fatigue, vertigo and eventual positive coronavirus tests, often delayed by the limitations of rapid testing. “I got COVID at Con,” one attendee wrote. “Given the timing and the complete lack of exposure vectors before, I was most likely exposed at the 8-Bit Ball.”

Despite the known risks for contracting COVID, most described a setting with few mitigations in place. “I tried to wear a mask when wading through huge crowds. But I think I was the only one,” one attendee wrote, with another replying, “You were not the only one, but we were few.” Several commenters shared that they were mocked or even harassed for wearing masks, including one person whose friend was “deliberately sneezed on in an elevator because of her mask.” Yet alongside these reports of hostility, the thread also became an impromptu health resource. Users began to offer practical guidance on testing protocols, such as throat-and-nasal swabbing based on Canadian and European standards, detailing early antiviral access and symptom timelines.

Illness-related Cancellations at Live Events

The continuing effects of the ongoing pandemic are not limited to fan conventions, but are also seen in other spaces where fans congregate, as seen in high-profile event cancellations. On Broadway, illness has disrupted major productions. The Broadway revival of Romeo and Juliet avoided cancellations through extensive use of covers, with one understudy reportedly performing without being fully off book. In London’s West End, David Tennant’s Macbeth was forced to cancel five performances in November 2024. When the show returned, it did so with six understudies. More recently, in August 2025, a smaller production in the South Bay, the Go-Go’s inspired musical Head Over Heels, shuttered its closing weekend due to an outbreak of COVID in the company.

Similar patterns have emerged in the live music sector. Since 2020, there have been consistent high-profile concert cancellations due to illness. Childish Gambino cancelled the remainder of his New World Tour across North America and Europe in late 2024, after being hospitalized for an undisclosed medical condition requiring surgery. Stevie Nicks delayed two UK shows in summer 2024 due to what she described as an infection that “went crazy” and led to hospitalization. During the 2024 holiday season, several dates on Mariah Carey’s annual Christmas tour were cancelled due to illness. While ”flu” was mentioned Carey’s as the official cause, the absence of accurate testing both in creative industries and more widely, means “flu“ is sometimes used as a catch-all for respiratory illnesses.

If fandom is a form of devotion, why is it that fans attend events like conventions, theater and concerts where they might transmit infections to other fans, venue staff and celebrities?

Pushed towards risk

Wil Wheaton spoke candidly about how social pressures contributed to his contracting COVID. “I’m extra pissed at myself,” he wrote, “for allowing the people who never stopped complaining about my choice to continue masking to influence my decisions about my health and my family’s health. Never again.”

Wheaton’s comment highlights how public figures, even those known for their advocacy, can find themselves pushed toward risk by a mix of peer pressure and professional obligation. These same forces that discourage mask wearing can reflect a broader tolerance for exploitative labor practices

For many actors, attending fan events is contractually required promotional work tied to active franchises and licensing deals. In franchise contracts and endorsement agreements, there are often “publicity obligations,” which stipulate that talent must appear at promotional events, panels, photo ops and autograph signings. While no public contract clauses explicitly ban wearing masks, “acceptable public image” is closely managed. Celebrities can face reputational risk or be perceived as non‑cooperative or difficult if they draw public attention by refusing typical expectations. Some celebrities have successfully negotiated for COVID safety measures, such as Nick Offerman who reportedly met fans only if they wore masks, and Star Trek actor Jeri Ryan who reportedly only took photos with fans outdoors, but these are exceptions to the rule.

Legal issues

There have been several incidents since the pandemic began in which celebrities or crew members have alleged workplace COVID exposure, or have been publicly known to suffer long‑term effects. In her lawsuit against It Ends With Us director and co-star Justin Baldoni, Blake Lively claims that inadequate on‑set protections led to both her and her infant son contracting COVID. Similarly, Paul Woodward, a van driver for the crew of American Horror Story, was the subject of a wrongful death suit filed by his family asserting that production companies failed to enforce COVID‑19 safety protocols, which they allege resulted in his infection and death.

An increasing number of public figures have shared their ongoing struggles with Long COVID, including actor Matt McGorry has gone on record about debilitating fatigue, brain fog, and other persistent symptoms following two COVID infections, describing how the condition has forced changes to daily life. Jeff Bridges, Alyssa Milano, Colin Farrell, Dave Navarro, Tilda Swinton and others similarly have publicly disclosed their struggles with Long COVID.

These cases point toward a legal and financial landscape studios and networks likely observe with concern. As more people document workplace coronavirus exposure, there is risk of significant liability claims, especially for productions with high public visibility. Meanwhile, contractual restrictions, such as non‑disparagement clauses, often limit what celebrities or crew can publicly say about exposure or illness.

If celebrities are enduring exploitative labour situations, why don’t fans protest?

Fandom under surveillance capitalism

While some fans may prioritise moments of staged intimacy with stars over safety considerations, it must also be acknowledged that there are structural forces which systematically discourage expression of public health concerns, particularly in the era of surveillance capitalism.

Early in the pandemic, terms like “coronavirus” and “COVID‑19” were added to keyword blocklists by advertisers and platforms, which caused publishers reporting on the pandemic to lose revenue or see their content filtered out of programmatic ad placements. Some advertisers dropped ads adjacent to coronavirus content, even on trusted news sites, in order to protect “brand safety,” which meant that certain public health‑oriented stories lost visibility.

Fandoms themselves have become increasingly surveilled and monetised. In the current entertainment economy, fandom is a strategic asset, cultivated through tightly integrated systems of surveillance and behavioural targeting. Firms offer tools for social listening: tracking public conversations in forums, social media, blogs, review sites to monitor brand perception, and detect emerging PR issues. Analytics companies market proprietary “demand metrics” which combine audience engagement, search behavior and other signals across platforms to help studios, streamers, and distributors guide decisions.

Fan Power in the Affective Economy

Despite the pressures of brand loyalty and surveillance capitalism, fan communities have mobilised their emotional investment for social change. For example, researchers at USC found that in 2020-2021, fans of the K‑Pop group BTS helped public health tweets go viral. Tweets with K‑Pop hashtags achieved significantly greater reach and engagement, helping mask‑wearing and vaccine messaging spread into regions often underserved by Western public health campaigns. The grassroots activist group Fans MASK UP advocated for coronavirus mitigations at 2023 New York Comic Con, including publishing public health explainers about coronavirus safety at fan events.

For fans who would like to advocate for coronavirus safety in venues, one of the first steps is recognising the scale and complexity of what they are up against. Organising for even basic health and safety protections runs into multiple systemic forces: the official downplaying of the pandemic by public health authorities since the U.S. ended its COVID-19 public health emergency declaration in May 2023, platform-level content suppression, where keywords related to coronavirus have been on blocklists since 2020 and often remain algorithmically deprioritised, and the architecture of social media itself, which prioritises controversy and clicks over information sharing and mutual care.

The result is a structural hostility to health advocacy. Advocates can face harassment, dogpiling, doxxing, visibility throttling, or Terms of Service enforcement, all while facing the potential of real-world reputational suppression if their actions are seen to implicate corporate liability exposure. That exposure is nontrivial, as major studios, event venues, and production companies potentially face significant financial and legal risks from COVID-related occupational safety claims, and that sensitivity can fuel suppressive strategies including crisis PR interventions.

Structural overhaul

Given these dynamics, organisers may be safest and most effective by first prioritising safety. Improving digital hygiene, such as using two-factor authentication, VPNs, and encrypted messaging apps can reduce risk. To avoid surveillance, potential organisers can begin in private, encrypted or semi-closed spaces like Discord servers or group chats, which are not typically scraped by enterprise-grade “social listening” tools used by studios and PR firms. Operating through pseudonymous or alternate accounts may provide another layer of insulation from backlash or platform-level suppression.

The current structure of entertainment, from fan conventions, to streaming platforms to live performances, will not be transformed by individual artists or studio policies. Even celebrities themselves, despite their visibility, remain constrained by contractual obligations and reputational economics that discourage open acknowledgment of occupational health risks. For fan communities concerned about safety and long-term health impacts, there is limited value in hoping for change from institutions structured around liability avoidance. Instead, what is needed is recognition of the influence fans already possess.

Fandom is not just a consumer base, it is an affective economy that platforms and studios actively mine for revenue. That emotional investment, when organised, can become leverage. The same online infrastructure used to amplify loyalty and drive monetisation can also be used to demand transparency, accountability and shift norms around health and safety.

Fans have the potential to act as one of the most—if not the most—effective power base within platform capitalism, not just to protect one another and below-the-line workers, but to model care for the performers they admire.

Featured image via YouTube screenshot/Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum