--- description: The South by Soutwest (SXSW) Interactive Festival will feature a daylong summit on online harassment. title: SXSW Apologizes for Canceling Gaming Panels and Announces Daylong Harassment Summit image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9f08abeef8517156/69886f00428a9e2ca0ccfde0/hugh-forrest-sxsw.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Tech](/tag/time-section-tech/) ## Tech Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # SXSW Apologizes for Canceling Gaming Panels and Announces Daylong Harassment Summit  by [Julia Zorthian](/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 30, 2015 8:35 PM CUT  Hugh Forrest, SXSW Interactive's Director speaks onstage at Bruce Sterling Closing Remarks during the 2014 SXSW Music, Film + Interactive Festival in Austin on March 11, 2014. Hugh Forrest, SXSW Interactive's Director speaks onstage at Bruce Sterling Closing Remarks during the 2014 SXSW Music, Film + Interactive Festival in Austin on March 11, 2014.Jon Shapley—Getty Images for SXSW  by [Julia Zorthian](/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 30, 2015 8:35 PM CUT South by Southwest apologized on Friday for canceling two panels discussing the gaming community in response to threats of violence, and announced that the festival would feature a new daylong summit on online harassment. “Earlier this week we made a mistake,” SXSW director Hugh Forrest [wrote](http://www.sxsw.com/news/2015/sxsw-announces-march-12-online-harassment-summit "undefined") in a statement about the summit. “It is clear that online harassment is a problem that requires more than two panel discussions to address.” The summit will take place on March 12 and has a lineup of [20 speakers](http://www.sxsw.com/news/2015/sxsw-announces-march-12-online-harassment-summit "undefined") so far. SXSW canceled the original panels due to safety concerns after organizers received online threats from people who vowed to violently disrupt the discussions. That decision was met with a swift backlash, with festival participants including Buzzfeed and Vox Media[ backing out of attending the festival as a protest](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-27/vox-media-pulls-out-of-sxsw-after-panels-on-gaming-called-off "undefined"). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4094910/sxsw-gaming-harassment-daylong-summit/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4094910/sxsw-gaming-harassment-daylong-summit/"},"headline":"SXSW Apologizes for Canceling Gaming Panels and Announces Daylong Harassment Summit","datePublished":"2015-10-30T20:35:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:06:53.059Z","description":"The festival had canceled two panels after receiving threats","url":"https://time.com/4094910/sxsw-gaming-harassment-daylong-summit/","keywords":["Tech","Video Games","SXSW"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9f08abeef8517156/69886f00428a9e2ca0ccfde0/hugh-forrest-sxsw.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Julia Zorthian","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9f08abeef8517156/69886f00428a9e2ca0ccfde0/hugh-forrest-sxsw.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"AUSTIN, TX - MARCH 11: Hugh Forrest, SXSW Interactive's Director speaks onstage at Bruce Sterling Closing Remarks during the 2014 SXSW Music, Film + Interactive Festival at Austin Convention Center on March 11, 2014 in Austin, Texas. 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