animation Vic Mignogna, Prominent Anime Voice Actor, Fired for Sexual Assault Allegations

[Misty Shadow 7,956]

https://boundingintocomics.com/2019/02/06/funimation-replaces-vic-mignogna-in-morose-mononokean-ii-after-allegations-of-sexual-misconduct/

Though I can't honestly say that I'm the biggest fan of the guy's work with me only knowing about him through Fullmetal Alchemist and Dragon Ball Super: Broly (and Unlimited Saga because of my weird tastes), I can honestly say that I think this entire thing is ridiculous and I'm disappointed in Funimation for caving in so quickly. This is not like the case against Scott Freeman, where he was caught possessing CP. No evidence has come against Vic for over a week since the story broke other than him hugging and kissing girls on the cheeks like he's done for years and cracking offensive jokes. Even worse, it recently came out that some of the "evidence" against him was forged. 

Disgraceful. 

[Steve Piranha 29,442]

Like I wrote before: do you think you are still in position in giving me that nonsense that we shouldn’t be paranoid for false rape allegations  . You know what’s the saddest part? They’re probably cyberbullying the girl because she dared to go straight and not play along with the narrative. Lovely 

[Guest]

I'm not going to pick a political stance on this, but I think this is horrendously unfair and technically illegal. It's trial by public opinion and not by court. If Vic is guilty, then he deserves to have it proven in a court of law before retaliation is made against him. Accusations alone should not harm his career and he should be allowed to sue for damages.

Not to mention, I've read what he was accused of... We're not talking rape or molestation. We're talking cheek kisses and such, harmless stuff. While I don't think anyone should be subjected to affection they don't want... Does the punishment fit the crime? Not really.

Innocent until proven guilty and someone's statement that he did something is not evidence. Anyone could make up such a story and people claiming enough people "backing it up" is not evidence either. We live in a world where many people want their fifteen minutes of fame or to jump on the bandwagon. People lie, people make things up, sometimes en masse, especially if they think they won't get called out on it.

 

How you feel about "SJWs" or "Anti-SJWs" or any of this should be irrelevant. What should be relevant to anyone and everyone is that people deserve a chance to have their case heard in court and let a court with a fair trial decide their fate, not public opinion. Vic is known for not being a very "likeable" guy in the industry, so it's not really fair to judge his fate based upon public opinion because no matter what anyone says, people not liking him will sway their judgment. We live in a world where every man and woman is innocent until proven guilty and we should stand by that.

[heavens-champion 1,905]

What is wrong with this century? Any chance of him getting his job back, or has his career gone down the drain?

Edited February 8, 2019 by heavens-champion

[Misty Shadow 7,956]

39 minutes ago, heavens-champion said:

What is wrong with this century? Any chance of him getting his job back, or has his career gone down the drain?

Vic is seeking legal action from what I've heard, so I wouldn't be too worried.

[Olly 1,011]

Companies are quick to excommunicate people on the basis of... nothing at all really. It's surprising and accomplishes nothing, if anything it makes you look worse for doing it. A random person's word, without any evidence, can be enough to fire someone apparently- and that's damn scary and wrong. 

 

[Guest]

3 hours ago, Olly said:

Companies are quick to excommunicate people on the basis of... nothing at all really. It's surprising and accomplishes nothing, if anything it makes you look worse for doing it. A random person's word, without any evidence, can be enough to fire someone apparently- and that's damn scary and wrong. 

 

Right you are! And it diminishes victims because this leads to skepticism when accusations are made now.

[Goat-kun 2,530]

15 hours ago, Key Sharkz said:

How you feel about "SJWs" or "Anti-SJWs" or any of this should be irrelevant. What should be relevant to anyone and everyone is that people deserve a chance to have their case heard in court and let a court with a fair trial decide their fate, not public opinion. Vic is known for not being a very "likeable" guy in the industry, so it's not really fair to judge his fate based upon public opinion because no matter what anyone says, people not liking him will sway their judgment. We live in a world where every man and woman is innocent until proven guilty and we should stand by that.

Should I agree with you on principle alone? I cannot. We should treat such instances empirically, not based on loose notions that we harbor against humanity. The people who are doing this, who are they? If there is a pattern, should we not try to classify their beliefs and root them out? You cannot treat something that you refuse to understand our of principle.

 

Now, I still know too little to unravel the beliefs to the accusers which are indeed less important in relation to their motivations, but the people of companies who have bent their knees so easily are nothing but a bunch of unprincipled cowards who are now undoubtedly hiding behind "muh private company" excuse. And guess who are the people who encourage such actions? Ding, ding, you've got it! They're known as SJWs. As long as there exists such specific and effective public pressure to regard the accused as guilty until proven innocent I cannot agree with what you've said. The people who falsely accuse others have been here since the dawn of time. The people who promote such accusations change with every era. To render them powerless we must understand their beliefs and dismantle them. It's what we did with religious right. It's what we must do with regressive left.

 

TL; DR: You cannot make people not be assholes, but you can make them powerless assholes.

[Jeric 46,861]

I’ve adopted a wait and see notion on cases like these. It seems safer. As a free market and at-will proponent, I am not going to hold his employer to the fire over his termination. On the other hand I wouldn’t care if they continued to employ him if he maintained his innocence and was not convicted or found guilty of civil wrongdoing. 

I do have to say that it may be smart for celebrities if they start to be careful with shows of affection and limit them to cases where the parent is present and has given approval. I’d think it was strange if I saw a grown man kiss my kids on the cheek when they were younger. 

[Jeric 46,861]

Oh. Forgot to mention this. I appreciate the civil approach to this topic. I understand that fear of false allegations as well as the seriousness of sexual assault or inappropriate behavior can be a topic that gets people riled up (and it’s honestly understandable). 

All of the comments in here have been thoughtful. Subjects like this and views that caution a rush to judgement are something that should be part of this discussion. In light of the last year of so, I believe that too many people are afraid of the eggshells, and as long as we can openly discuss it amoungst each other without attacking one another ... this is a fine venue to bring up concerns over sexual assault and the impact of both the accuser and the accused. 

 

[Frostgage 7,976]

This was very sad for me to learn about, if only because he's a great voice actor. I was unsure what to think at first, but when other voice actors condemn him and reference personal experiences, I can't justify believing in him.

I saw a great tweet the other day which said: If you believe in "innocent until proven guilty," you must also believe survivors are innocent of lying until proven guilty.

[Singe 2,111]

I didn't like this one bit about the situation. Putting the elements of the accusations to the side. I'm a bit more focused on the timing of this coming out and if accusations are true these were just sitting there for so long. It raises the usual questions, one would ask about the timing and wait to come forward.

From my own observation, I find the overuse of the court of public opinion being brokenly influential and way too powerful. Mob justice used to be viewed as barbaric but now it has become the norm. It's forcing reactions quickly on hearsay without taking time to weigh each accusation and any evidence.

If Vic has been wronged he should seek legal recourse. So if the outcome he wins in court, then it will likely be because a circle of enemies wanted Vic ousted.

Edited February 9, 2019 by Singe

[Aurora Wolf 2,354]

So are you saying the charges against Vic are lies? There's so much BS going on in this world that it's got to be stopped.

[Black Sabbath 2,486]

2 hours ago, Aurora Wolf said:

So are you saying the charges against Vic are lies?

I think one or two were proven false. However, it's important to remember that that doesn't affect the other accusations.

[RDDash 19,206]

I heard about that when Rooster Teeth got rid of Qrow voice actor from the show. Just another warning sign that the RWBY is going into the toilet in my opinion.

[Singe 2,111]

https://www.oneangrygamer.net/2019/02/anime-outsiders-twitter-account-suspended-after-jamie-mcgonnigal-claims-his-friends-at-twitter-would-be-handing-down-suspensions/76691/

Quote

The Twitter account for Anime Outsiders was suspended on February 9th, 2019 after they had begun posting evidence to help clear voice actor Vic Mignogna of the allegations leveled against him. If you attempt to access the account on Twitter, it takes you a suspension page.

The suspension came shortly after voice actor Jamie McGonnigal claimed that he had friends at Twitter that would be handing down suspensions after those who were against Vic Mignogna caught wind of Anime Outsider’s activity regarding questioning other voice actors about the allegations leveled at Neil Kaplan and attempting to defend Vic Mignogna. When McGonnigal was informed about this, he mentioned on February 6th, 2019 that he was blocking people attempting to drag him into the conversation.

So it seems there could be efforts to stop people coming to Vic's defense. This is not boding well.

[Misty Shadow 7,956]

On 2/7/2019 at 1:32 PM, Steve Piranha said:

Like I wrote before: do you think you are still in position in giving me that nonsense that we shouldn’t be paranoid for false rape allegations  . You know what’s the saddest part? They’re probably cyberbullying the girl because she dared to go straight and not play along with the narrative. Lovely 

Someone did tell one of Vic's defenders that she would be sexually assaulted herself. 

(go to 3:17-3:35)

30 minutes ago, Singe said:

https://www.oneangrygamer.net/2019/02/anime-outsiders-twitter-account-suspended-after-jamie-mcgonnigal-claims-his-friends-at-twitter-would-be-handing-down-suspensions/76691/

So it seems there could be efforts to stop people coming to Vic's defense. This is not boding well.

Imagine getting banned just for presenting evidence to support your case to help someone who's likely innocent while the ones arguing for that person's guilt have been caught editing footage (Meepy Gal), Photoshopping pictures, and falsely flagging the people trying to expose their lies. Sickens me how a lot of these people still have this "justified vigilantism" mindset. No, if you think this kind of behavior is acceptable, wake up. You are not a rebel, you are an imperial. This isn't vigilantism, it's totalitarianism. 

[Steve Piranha 29,442]

21 hours ago, Frostgage said:

 

I saw a great tweet the other day which said: If you believe in "innocent until proven guilty," you must also believe survivors are innocent of lying until proven guilty.

An approach that should have been kept in today’s world, but as we all know, that’s not the case 

 

21 minutes ago, CloudMistDragon said:

Someone did tell one of Vic's defenders that she would be sexually assaulted herself. 

(go to 3:17-3:35)

Imagine getting banned just for presenting evidence to support your case to help someone who's likely innocent while the ones arguing for that person's guilt have been caught editing footage (Meepy Gal), Photoshopping pictures, and falsely flagging the people trying to expose their lies. Sickens me how a lot of these people still have this "justified vigilantism" mindset. No, if you think this kind of behavior is acceptable, wake up. You are not a rebel, you are an imperial. This isn't vigilantism, it's totalitarianism. 

Censorship because evidence against their narrative is stronger than it, so, CENSORSHIP. it’s totalitarianism 101 

[Singe 2,111]

22 hours ago, Frostgage said:

I saw a great tweet the other day which said: If you believe in "innocent until proven guilty," you must also believe survivors are innocent of lying until proven guilty.

That brings up another problem with this scandal, I didn't hear anything about RoosterTeeth or Funimation doing their own independent investigations into these claims before firing Vic. Rather Vic is guilty or innocent, there always has to be a process to look into the allegations.

[Misty Shadow 7,956]

Just now, Singe said:

That brings up another problem with this scandal, I didn't hear anything about RoosterTeeth or Funimation doing their own independent investigations into these claims before firing Vic. Rather Vic is guilty or innocent, there always has to be a process to look into the allegations.

Yeah, there's a major problem with that tweet, it's not a fair comparison. There is no penalty for lying about someone sexually assaulting you on the internet anonymously. Even if your online reputation is destroyed for it when you are caught lying, there's always deleting your account and starting over. Even if you do use your real name and face, that doesn't guarantee that legal action will actually be taken against you. On the other hand, being accused of charges like this is the same thing as being guilty of charges like this in the eyes of your average Western company, so such a comparison does not justify witch hunting the accused. 

[Singe 2,111]

In the case Vic is innocent and was framed.

So if Vic takes legal action. He'll likely go after Anime News Network, Funimation, and RoosterTeeth. Also including any of the other voice actors and co-workers that got online posting accusations or attacks towards Vic since it could be made a case for slander.

Plus there will be the coming blow-back from a portion of fans towards RoosterTeeth and Funimation along with the bandwagon voice actors.

Edited February 11, 2019 by Singe

[Misty Shadow 7,956]

49 minutes ago, Singe said:

In the case Vic is innocent and was framed.

So if Vic takes legal action. He'll likely go after Anime News Network, Funimation, and RoosterTeeth. Also including any of the other voice actors and co-workers that got online posting accusations or attacks towards Vic since it could be made a case for slander.

Plus there will be the coming blow-back from a portion of fans towards RoosterTeeth and Funimation along with the bandwagon voice actors.

Before someone writes off the notion that framing Vic is ridiculous because there's no motive, think again. 

This would make sense with how they are not going after Neil Kaplan despite there being better evidence. Also, yes, I'm already seeing a good number of people swearing off watching anything by Rooster Teeth and any Funimation dubs because of this. I can't blame them, honestly. I always had a bad feeling Crunchyroll wasn't the only part of the Western anime industry that would fall prey to this kind of corruption and I really can't go so far anymore to say that there are companies that I "trust" or "support". 

[Singe 2,111]

A recent video posted up. The origins of the #KickVic that came out as the driving force to remove Vic.

 

[Misty Shadow 7,956]

A Funimation employee was recently caught faking a swatting to make #IStandWithVic supporters look bad. 

If real evidence comes out to show Vic is guilty of something, I will be the first to own up, please keep that in mind. However, while I am not exactly on the #IStandWithVic side, I am absolutely not on the #KickVic side. Vic's former co-workers are some of the most wicked wolves in sheep's clothing I've witnessed in recent times. I hope Funimation gets sued, I am done to death with people like this not being held accountable for lying to destroy people's lives. 

[Frostgage 7,976]

Some of y'all might have seen this article https://io9.gizmodo.com/one-of-anime-s-biggest-voices-accused-of-sexual-harassm-1832390505

It's interesting that he doesn't refute any of the encounters themselves, just whether they were consensual or not. I think his quote at the end says a lot about his mindset: “If I’m a jerk and you don’t tell me so, then you’re consenting to me being a jerk. See how that works? If somebody is doing something you don’t approve of and you don’t say anything... the implication is that you must be okay with it.”

Edited February 20, 2019 by Frostgage