News

Voice Actor David Wald Leaves Role as Gajeel in Fairy Tail, Will Not Return to Crunchyroll Following Claims Company Opened His Mail, Gave Away Contents

Voice actor and ADR Director David Wald revealed on his X/Twitter account on Monday that he is not returning as the English voice of Gajeel in the Fairy Tail franchise. Furthermore, he is not returning to Crunchyroll's studio. This follows Wald's claims on October 25 that Crunchyroll "opened [his] private mail, threw away [the] letters, and passed out any included items to [its] staff."

Wald plans to go into more detail about what has happened on his Twitch channel.

Wald said on X/Twitter, "if you sent me anything care of Funimation or Crunchyroll in the last 5 years, I apologize, I didn't get it." Wald posted a picture of the contents of a package he said was sent to him that Crunchyroll allegedly "opened and distributed to employees." He said he found out about the situation a day earlier, due to the sender of the package providing him with a photo of the contents as well as the United States Postal Service (USPS) tracking information.

He stated some of the items were returned to him, after they were "found on the company giveaway table." Wald added he believed the employees were not to blame, as "They just walked by the company freebies table and thought something looked cool."

A Crunchyroll spokesperson told ANN on October 26 that it is investigating the situation. The full statement a Crunchyroll spokesperson provided to ANN is as follows:

Anime fans have a special connection with dub voice talent and that emotional expression is important in fueling more love of anime content. We are currently investigating the matter regarding the allegation of undelivered fan mail to a voice actor. We respect the privacy of all of our voice actors and do not intentionally open mail or packages not intended for Crunchyroll. Any fan mail should be sent directly to talent and their management.

Wald is known for such roles as Hannes in Attack on Titan, Askeladd in Vinland Saga, Welf Crozzo in Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, and Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu in My Hero Academia, among many others. He has served as the ADR Director for such anime as Bloom Into You, Tada Never Falls in Love, and the Given TV anime and the Given movie.

The television anime of Hiro Mashima and Atsuo Ueda's Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest sequel manga premiered on TV-TOKYO, TV Osaka, TV Aichi, TV Setouchi, TV Hokkaido, and TVQ Kyushu Broadcasting Co., Ltd. on July 7. Crunchyroll is streaming the series as it airs, and it is also streaming the English dub. Wald had been reprising his role as Gajeel.

Source: David Wald's X/Twitter account