Forum - View topicINTEREST: 'Far From Perfect': Fans Recount Unwanted Affection from Voice Actor Vic Mignogna
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Ali07
 Posts: 3333 Location: Victoria, Australia |
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I've never paid attention to voice actors in anime (that goes for English and Japanese), so names etc have never been anything I've paid any attention to. But, Vic is the one that I do recognise (on the English side), and I do remember seeing rumors online about his behaviour. Never thought that there'd be so many allegations, and that some people were underage at the time.
Sad stuff. |
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revolutionotaku
Posts: 893 |
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I have never been much of a Vic Mignogna fan to begin with & I have close friends in the convention/cosplay community who have been telling me stories/rumors about his allegations for years.
This resurfaced nearly 2 weeks ago on the Boycott Anime Matsuri page on Facebook & read Vic's statement on Twitter. I've shared this with my other friends who are diehard fans of him & told me that even if he's guilty of these allegations against him, they don't care & will continue to be devoted fans of him & his voice work no matter happened. I personally want to share my thoughts about this situation & decide to wait to see what happens in the end. Facts & truth matter. |
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GhostStalkerSA
 Posts: 425 Location: NYC |
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I worked convention staff at a con he was at last August, and while I had heard the rumors before, I personally didn't see anything to the effect of creepiness. Not discounting it, but the autographing bit I worked seemed very above board.
About the only thing I personally saw that could've been untowards was him complaining about the size of the event room we had him in for his panel (we were in a Times Square hotel, they were regular sized meeting rooms and such, the only larger space we had was the main events room and that was set up to be huge), with the amount of people lining up for him and then him squeezing people into the room beyond seating capacity. Not discounting these reports, just saying that mymown experience hasn't seen something to those effects happen. I honestly would not be surprised if these reports turned out to be true though. |
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TsukasaHiiragi
 Posts: 179 |
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This really has got to stop! People have been smearing his name for more than a decade now from someone who obviously has it out for him. Am I a hardcore defender of Vic here? No, I do think Vic has most likely overstepped personal boundaries several times in the past. The pics are obvious but what people are saying just isn't true! I've met him and saw none of the issues mentioned way before this story 're-broke' and again, doesn't it strike you as odd as Super Broly just came out? Not to mention, the pictures in question have long been circulated around, and there are others too - many taken way out of context.
This post from 2016 on DeviantART speaks more volumes than anything https://www.deviantart.com/asinglepetal/journal/Vic-mignogna-rumors-the-breakdown-609216214 I will 100% agree Vic has done some things and said some things which probably weren't a good idea at the time, but some of the other stuff people are saying really isn't true! In fact, as these stories have passed around the communities over the years, its gotten more out of control with the the facts being distorted. You know what? I honestly blame 4chan and Tumblr, especially 4chan for some of these rumors, and just that - rumors-- many maliciously propagated to which the sole purpose being to spread like a virus to social media. I've personally met most of the American VAs now, and attended many 'after dark' panels where some of them talk about risque topics, but again - not once has anyone talked smack or truly said bad things about him either. Warning; This will be possibly controversial below We are living in an ever increasing world of people who care about social justice and people requiring special places or extra wide areas of personal space to feel safe. If you don't feel comfortable being close to anyone, especially actors in the industry then you need to speak up especially if your in a line to meet someone. Anime Conventions are meant for attendees to have fun and to relax with similar minded people. If you have social spectrum issues, chances are; you're going to be uncomfortable or worse, see/take offense when none was ever intended. One thing I know for absolute sure, trolls love to create situations like this - this to me, is just that - someone or a group (4chan) is taking another pot shot at Vic after the success of the Broly movie. That being said ~ Vic needs to also back off a bit from the touchy feely attitude he has sometimes because times have changed and a simple kiss on the cheek unfortunately can totally be misconstrued as sexual harrassment these days. Back in the 80s and even 90s it wasn't so much a big deal as it is these days. I honestly would love to see how some of these people would survive if you could somehow magically transport them to the 70s/80s >.> |
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Swami.
Posts: 23 |
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Read the entire piece and didn’t see anything bad that ANN did in their reporting. Their claims were validated by photographic evidence and they displayed arguments on both sides without making it sound one sided. I think this was mutually beneficial to both the fans and Vic. Vic says he’ll no longer hug or kiss his fans and just stick to signing autographs; good!
It’s important that people are made aware of what to do and not do with people who like to meet you. This should apply to everybody, not just Vic. |
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MarzGurl
 Posts: 142 Location: San Antonio, Texas |
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If you didn't hear other VAs saying things about Vic, then you weren't at the right panels. A video has been going around of one VA joking about Vic and children about nine years ago. 4chan hasn't been relevant in forever. And this came up not in relation to Broly, but because there was another creep in the anime sphere of influence that had finally been brought up and revealed to the world (someone who occasionally contributed to ANN, in fact), and they kicked him the hell out of the circle. When people started commenting on how hard it was to bring up names for fear of getting fired or blacklisted, that's when Vic's name resurfaced, and it came from a Twitter post from a girl who currently lives in Japan and has no stake in English voice actors at the moment, certainly not the Broly movie. While it may seem convenient to you, I think you're pinning this on all the wrong details, ESPECIALLY with bringing up 4chan. I know 4chan has been one of Vic's favorite enemies in the past, that he would love to bring up a lot during his panels about how mean people on the Internet are to him. But 4chan just isn't the relevant place it once was. It sorta sounds like you're reading back lines directly out of Vic's playbook. |
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Kisuka
Posts: 3 |
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I used to work for AX years ago in a very high up position. Before that I was a volunteer for a number of years. It was always talked about among staff how much of a pain in the ass it was dealing with Vic. He was consistently rude to staff to the point where nobody at AX wanted to deal with him. One year our office manager literally was the one in charge of being his handler because nobody else wanted to deal with the abuse from him.
I've been working in the anime / manga industry for almost 10 years now. I can't even tell you the amount of times I've heard complaints about Vic from other members within the industry over those years. From sound engineers, to other voice actors, to directors, to other convention operators. Literally everyone in the industry has a story or two about him. The stories regarding sexual assault and inappropriate behavior with minors has been mentioned for literally years within the industry and convention scene. It's been discussed a number of times but was just rumors for years. If anyone has any sexual assault experiences with him, or any other person within the anime / manga industry PLEASE SPEAK OUT. No matter how powerful those people may be within the industry. To any industry friends reading this, please stop ignoring this issue. You all have stories about him, and most of you have direct issues with him. Just [expletive] speak out already. |
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Puniyo
 Posts: 271 |
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As someone who comes from a culture where people kiss eachother's cheeks in greeting (ie platonic), I can actually see where he's coming from in his letter.
Another thing to note is that a lot of christian people start out homophobic because they're raised into it and don't really understand or know better. So yes, it is very possible he was homophobic in the past and isn't anymore. But him not wanting to sign weird FMA ships isn't proof of that. That said I think his popularity got to his head quite a bit and he definitely acted inappropriately (although you people saying you can't hug other people even if asked: y'all weird and definitely being overdramatic), but there are a lot of people on twitter who are lying (I saw someone was caught out claiming they were con staff when they weren't, but I didn't save the link orz) because of a vendetta against his popularity or dubs. He did a bad thing, let the truth about the bad thing come out. The embellishment isn't helping anyone on either side. either way I think his decision to not make physical contact with fans at events anymore is probably a good one. |
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#891604
Posts: 4 |
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I'll wait for a criminal investigation or something like that where investigation is more thorough and interviews with all parties takes place. All I can say right now is that his behaviour does indeed come off creepy, but I do think some allegations not related to sexual crimes are probably blown out of proportions. Particularly the whole homophobia thing, where I honestly think he was just shocked at what he was asked to sign, especially the specific pairing.
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BlueOla
Posts: 161 |
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Sooo, not wanting to be touched or kissed by a strange man is now considered "requiring extra wide areas of personal space"? How about the strange man asks for consent first instead of assuming it? Surely, then there would be no issue? I mean, there WOULD, given that most of his fans are underaged and it is creepy for a 40-50 year old man to ask a 16 year old if he can kiss her on the cheek, but surely, it's much more logical to assume that someone DOESN'T want to be touched, instead of the opposite? Isn't that pretty standard in all other social situations involving strangers, that instead of saying "please don't touch me", we just assume that people don't want to be touched? Why should conventions be any different? In fact assuming people consent to anything and everything just because it's a conventions so it's all "just good fun" is problematic on its own. Also it is irrelevant whether Vic intended offense or not - he touched and kissed people without their permission, that's never okay. |
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apopheniac
 Posts: 17 |
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I too come from a culture where people (even strangers) kiss and hug each other in greeting. That said, if someone put their hands inside my jacket or kissed my neck, there would be trouble. Those photos made my blood run cold. Also, awful people always look for drama like this so they can muddy the waters and/or vilify someone they already dislike. That doesn't make the accusations invalid, or solely fueled by jealousy about an anime dub. As for the homophobia, I didn't think he was homophobic until he said 'some of my best friends are gay'. Now I definitely think that, but it doesn't sound like he's actually hurt lgbt people except by creeping on them (not signing fanmade erotica doesn't really count). I honestly just hope he stops being such a baby about not being allowed to kiss young girls. Boundaries are a good thing to have. |
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TsukasaHiiragi
Posts: 179 |
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If you don't want to be hugged or even kissed, then you simple say No if that ever became an issue for someone- I've been to Vic's signings, I never once did I see anything that was over-stepping a boundary or anything creepy at all, never never never ~ And reading peoples stories, how do you know its the truth? Heck, you don't know even for sure what I'm saying is fact from fiction either, Not to mention some people massively over-react too, its true, Vic has probably just as many enemies and people who hate him as he has fans, how can you accurately report all the times he was 'actually' causing harm/abuse to fans/attendees vs made up sensationalist claims? Not to mention separating all the little details that could range from just being overly touchy feely to downright inappropriate, but the latter part again - inappropriate doesn't mean illegal either, and if legal action is taken then the party suing better have rock solid evidence to back that up. I've seen many rumors spun over the past 10 years, many of which was blatant lies, but I've also heard rumors which do raise some concerns too if proven to be actually true and I would completely accept those statements *if* proven to be true, but you know what? The industry itself has its fair share of scandals, just look at Anime Matsuri as a prime example of that - the community gathered together and took a stance that what was going on there wasn't good and needed firm action to prevent the abuse. So far a great deal of claims has all circumstantial so you literally do not know what the truth is, it is all, she's says/he's says and all that mired in lies and rumor as well which makes it even worse, I'm not saying that Vic is completely innocent in this issue but this has been going on for a long time now, and I see so many people ready to throw him to the slaughter based on hearsay and rumors. Literally right now, no matter who posts anything isn't going to be taken seriously by either side - tensions are way too high and Its issues like this which honestly don't do the entire anime community as a whole any good at all, mark my words here as someone who has seen issues like this before and who has been on this earth longer than many people posting here, this is not a wholesome conversation and it will quickly turn south fast if not handled/modded exceptionally carefully - tensions and passions are running high, so I'm going to close with this - witchhunts NEVER ended well, in this day and age we don't need witchhunts, what I think we can all agree on as rational and common sense thinking individuals who love anime and love attending cons is simple - We need to look at the rules and make adequate changes to prevent anything bad happening to everyone, not just attendees, but for staff and for special guests too. At least everyone should be on the same page here, that cons should be safe for everybody no matter what! I am not posting anymore on this subject, I'm firmly standing with Vic until I see absolute concrete evidence of legitimate actual abuse on the claims. There have been some great responses both alot of people here, Lets use this to make positive changes for everyone. Last edited by TsukasaHiiragi on Thu Jan 31, 2019 6:33 am; edited 1 time in total |
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BlueOla
Posts: 161 |
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People in this very thread have admitted that they've seen him behave inappropriately and didn't feel comfortable speaking out about it because they were afraid of it affecting their jobs, even if you choose to ignore his creepy behaviors, many others have confirmed them. Just because you didn't see something (or pretend not to see something because you idolize him so much) doesn't mean it didn't happen. |
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TsukasaHiiragi
Posts: 179 |
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I don't idolize him at all, I'm quite concerned about the situation but I'm also reporting as fact and truth that I personally, along with many others did not see anything inappropriate. I don't want to dismiss those claims outright because I don't know if its true or not, I cannot prove it, but again ~ the people who are making the claims cannot easily prove it either, hence we're at an impasse and thats when things start to get ugly. Thats why I think the focus should be on active prevention, change rules and get con staff trained and more awareness of whats right and what isn't - Honestly I feel strongly that everyone should be protected, especially children. If this situation makes Vic look at his past behaviour and makes a positive change, then thats good - if this situation makes con chairs look at the rules they have laid out and makes positive changes, then thats also good. I think everyones focus to vilify Vic here isn't the right option, we should use this to make some solid changes, wouldn't you agree? |
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#892243
Posts: 3 |
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I find it hard to believe Vic Mignogna would let himself be photographed hundreds of times hugging/kissing fans if he thought he was doing anything wrong or illegal. He's either the dumbest criminal in the world, or this a big overreaction.
Most disturbing is that Jessie Pridemore story talks about how she was raped by a voice actor at a convention, but nobody cares to find that VA and are only focusing on Vic making an off-color joke. Maybe the priority should be on the actual rapist. Twitter detectives are saying it's either Todd Haberkorn or Chris Sabat. Maybe look into those two next. Last edited by #892243 on Thu Jan 31, 2019 6:44 am; edited 1 time in total |
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