Yesterday in Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con, the Q&A session for Ender's Game got right to the point about the controversy surrounding the film. The very first fan to the mic asked, "There’s actually been a lot of controversy about the author of the book. How involved was he in making the film?”

The film's producer, Roberto Orci, responded,

"Obviously, we were first concerned with anyone who might be hurt by anything we were associated with. But we’ve decided to use the attention to … completely and unequivocally support Lionsgate and Summit’s statement in defense of LGBT rights.”

The room broke out in applause.

Not to sound ungrateful for explicit support, but answering the question of "How involved was he?" with "We support our studio's statement of defense for gays," doesn't actually answer her question. Like, at all. Additionally, and I freely admit that this is a nit-pick, saying "We support our studio's statement" rather than making one of your own feels a bit half-assed in terms of support.

Wired has a pretty thorough analysis of the event and the boycott. It includes Milk writer Dustin Lance Black's puzzling declaration that the boycott "is a waste of our collective energy,” and director Gavin Hood questioning the disconnect between the themes of compassion and empathy in the book and Card's real-world views of hateful intolerance.

Over at Huffington Post, they have Harrison Ford commenting on the controversy with,

"I don't think that issue rears its head in the work. No part of the story concerns Mr. Card's theories about society in terms of gay issues or homosexual issues."

Which is a complete misdirection. As I pointed out the other day, the boycott is protesting Card himself, not the content of the film.

It's uncertain if the positive reaction at Comic-Con will translate into support for the boycott, but to have an entire hall of con attendees applaud in support of LGBT rights is an encouraging sign that cretins like Card are on their way out.