[18][19] Anime Matsuri 2020 was moved from July to August due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and was later canceled after Houston announced the city would be holding no more events in 2020.
[20][21][22][23] The owners of Anime Matsuri have a history of not paying their partners, like Houston native Mike Udompongsuk, who lent tens of thousand of dollars to Anime Matsuri over the years but never saw reimbursement, and financially burning its guests, like the record label PS Company, which represented the Japanese rock star Miyavi in 2009.
[24] After Anime Matsuri 2015, John Leigh, the convention's founder was accused of sexual harassment by several members of the Lolita fashion community.
[25] These include accusations of unwanted touching, slapping buttocks, sexual jokes, requesting nude photos, lifting up clothing and asking a woman when she last had an orgasm.
[3][25] The convention sent Tyler Willis, owner of YouTube channel Last Week Lolita News a cease and desist letter in early 2018 after reporting about John Leigh's sexual harassment.
[26][27] Boycott Anime Matsuri was formed in 2018 to inform about the conventions past actions, with guests such as Johnny Yong Bosch, Steven Universe voice actors, and Femm later canceling.
[3] In 2019, Houston mayor Sylvester Turner was part of the opening ceremony of Anime Matsuri where he said he expected there to be more than 40,000 attendants that year.