Vic Mignogna's Sexual Harassments

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Every year, hundreds of thousands of anime fans flock to conventions, whether it's their mid-sized local con or planning a trek to Anime Expo. The reasons are just as varied as the attendees: some will spend early morning hours assembling racks and decoration for their artist alley booth, some will perfect their make-up and glue for the cosplay masquerade, and others will hop from fan panel to fan panel to learn about dubs lost to time or obscure appearances of hamburgers in anime.

For many, conventions are a weekend of fandom and freedom. Parents can drop off a small group of friends, assured that they'll get their coveted autographs and UFO catcher plushies. It's a place to laugh loudly, be unabashedly nerdy, and interact with the creators and actors in what's assumed as a safe environment. Adults and kids alike are there to check off their "must-sees" but while everyone is running off to the next panel or cosplay meet-up, who is making sure the star-struck, awkward teens are engaging with guests appropriately and vice versa? Where is the line for appropriate guest and attendee behavior and what should be done when it's crossed?

These questions came to the forefront of social media these last weeks as rumors about convention guests and staff interactions with minors stopped being whispered and instead were shouted. A Twitter thread posted on January 16 accused dub voice actor Vic Mignogna of homophobia, rude behavior, and most concerning, making unwanted physical advances on female con-goers. The thread quickly spread with over 4,000 retweets at the time of this writing and over 400 comments, many relaying their own negative experiences, including unwanted and unsolicited physical affection from the Fullmetal Alchemist voice actor. As with any claims involving a person with a moderate fan following, Mignogna's supporters were quick to attempt to discredit individuals' claims or at the very least dispute the voice actor's intentions behind kissing or hugging attendees unannounced.

J was approximately 14 years old when she attended New York Comic-Con in 2014 and met Mignogna. She described the encounter as "really, really uncomfortable." She discussed how the voice actor put his hand underneath her zip-up sweatshirt and on her waist for the initial photo. Then, thinking that the photo-taking portion was done, she was surprised when he asked her to look toward the camera again. That's when he put his face close to hers and then kissed her.

Multiple individuals, many with friends present to corroborate, relayed their personal encounters with Mignogna with an increasingly common series of events. A fan would be in Mignogna's autograph line to get a piece of merchandise signed for a friend. Upon approaching Mignogna, they would make typical small talk before he would ask the attendee if they wanted a photo. They would agree and would unexpectedly find the voice actor kissing their cheek or pulling them in for a tight hug for the photo op. Time and again, the individuals in the picture said that the physical affection happened without their consent and made them uncomfortable. The behavior wasn't limited to one con, one person, or even one year, and for all intents and purposes seemed like a common occurrence regardless of whether the other party was a young adult or a minor. It was often done in the wide-open areas of conventions and to the cheers of crowds.

Taylor was 18 when she attended Colossalcon in Sandusky, Ohio in 2013. She was feeling ill when she got up that morning but decided to still tag along with her friend to Mignogna's autograph line. She wasn't an avid fan of Mignogna, but her friend was, so she went so her companion could get a second item signed. When it came to be their turn, Taylor said that Mignogna told her she was "adorable." She didn't think much of the statement and when he asked her if she wanted a photo she thought, "why not?" He embraced her for a photograph and when the moment was over, Taylor said he hugged her and then proceeded to kiss her face. Onlookers cheered. Taylor, who identifies as queer, reiterated that she felt extremely nauseated and that the entire event feels "gross" when she thinks about it.

No one seemed to be asking, Mignogna included, whether the other party was a willing participant or whether a celebrity should be making an intimate display toward an underage con-goer no matter the intention behind it. The line continued to blur as more individuals came forward, including one person who, at the age of 15, was given Mignogna's personal cellphone number after an encounter in his autograph line.

Azure was 15 years old and presenting as female when he met Migogna at Anime Expo in 2006 in Anaheim, California. He was in the autograph line with a friend, also 15 years old, who had prepared a gift for Mignogna. Azure was dressed in cosplay, a cardboard version of Alphonse's armor from Fullmetal Alchemist. The two approached Mignogna and Azure's friend joked that Azure's costume was "sexy." Azure was surprised when Mignogna enthusiastically agreed. The group laughed it off and left the line. Later that day, they got an exclusive visit from Mignogna in the hallway. He chatted with the group, asked them how long they were visiting the con, and then mentioned his fanclub. After making the group swear they wouldn't share it, Mignogna gave them his personal cell phone number. Azure wrote it down in his Paris Hilton diary when he arrived home from Anaheim. A reverse phone records search shows that the number Azure provided belonged to Mignogna until at least 2016....... 
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Source: https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/in...fection-from-voice-actor-vic-mignogna/.142212

You can read the full information of the story in the link above.

Well, it's been circulating for a few weeks now, and it seems that things gotten out of hand. Regardless of your view of his career, at the very least, these are some boundaries issues that clearly have been crossed. 

It seems that this story has been around for some time now and it's seemingly an open secret among conventions. No word from Funimation yet.
 
Look I can't really comment on all the disgusting allegations against Vic short of scream "WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU, YOU ABSOLUTE MOTHERFUCKER". I simply can't write anything more higher process than that.

I know it's selfish but I'm glad Qrow isn't going to be immediately axed from RWBY because Vic's gone. They'll probably just kill him later when he gets unpopular because of the voice change.
 
Yeah, even if Vic isn't a pedophile crawling in the streets, at the barest absolute minimum, an 40+ year old man should know not to touch anyone, especially strangers, without some kind of consent and/or permission from their parents.

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/ne...in-morose-mononokean-english-dub-cast/.143026

Finally, Funimation is making some changes. Let's see if Vic will get booted out of Dragon Ball and other animes. I think he'd already replaced in RBWY. EDIT: Didn't see Loopy's post, but that's a good confirmation.
 
Vic's another one who there were funny rumors about for a LONG time. I don't honestly buy ALL of the allegations here, but I did know a person IRL who saw him at a con and mentioned years ago that he made a lot of flirtatious jokes at minors....so I think at least a lot of it is. It's amazing how an army of angry 14 year old girls on the internet could scare so many cons from looking into this more, because at the very least he made a lot of people feel MIIIIIGHTY uncomfortable for a LOOOONG time.
 
JamesYTP said:
Vic's another one who there were funny rumors about for a LONG time. I don't honestly buy ALL of the allegations here, but I did know a person IRL who saw him at a con and mentioned years ago that he made a lot of flirtatious jokes at minors....so I think at least a lot of it is. It's amazing how an army of angry 14 year old girls on the internet could scare so many cons from looking into this more, because at the very least he made a lot of people feel MIIIIIGHTY uncomfortable for a LOOOONG time.
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Yeah. I remember seeing this around for a long time now, but I (foolishly) dismissed because I think certain "reasons" were dumb. I'm ashamed to not looking further and deeper than the actual shit that comes with it.

Regardless of how you feel about a person, it shouldn't suddenly prevent one from thinking critically. You have people screaming at the top of their lungs about "MeToo" and "SJWs", simply because it targets a dude. :thonk:

It makes me question that they really don't give a shit about Vic but rather, another dumbass attempt to point fingers at the "boogeyman left", 

Either way, I'm glad Vic got the fucking boot. Let's hope there aren't other fucking creeps lurking around.
 
Tons of Clickbait title videos alleging Vic is innocent have appeared on Youtube over the past two to three days with titles straight out of Buzzfeed, Fandom News, or Fox News. I don't really need to explain anything. Watching the videos is definitely a waste of time however.

In addition, the only discussions on it I can find are mostly either 4chan planning to attack RT over removing Vic and a Reddit posts mostly consisting of insults, baseless statements, and arguments over whether shoving things into someone's ass in a discussion over whether someone is homophobic is hypocritically homophobic. Wonders of the Anime fandom everyone.

There's no news publications making ANY mention of evidence proving Vic's innocence. Which, makes the clickbait videos all the more doubting. I have a friend (who I managed to piss off) who claims "small communities I'm in are collecting evidence that proves the allegations are false." He basically described a conspiracy theory like Qanon or any other "I know something nobody else does" conspiracy.
 
Grey Star said:
Tons of Clickbait title videos alleging Vic is innocent have appeared on Youtube over the past two to three days with titles straight out of Buzzfeed, Fandom News, or Fox News. I don't really need to explain anything. Watching the videos is definitely a waste of time however.

In addition, the only discussions on it I can find are mostly either 4chan planning to attack RT over removing Vic and a Reddit posts mostly consisting of insults, baseless statements, and arguments over whether shoving things into someone's ass in a discussion over whether someone is homophobic is hypocritically homophobic. Wonders of the Anime fandom everyone.

There's no news publications making ANY mention of evidence proving Vic's innocence. Which, makes the clickbait videos all the more doubting. I have a friend (who I managed to piss off) who claims "small communities I'm in are collecting evidence that proves the allegations are false." He basically described a conspiracy theory like Qanon or any other "I know something nobody else does" conspiracy.
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Yikes. Your friends, along with countless others, is textbook example of knuckles-dragging levels of stupid. They're so adamant about making this some sort of conspiracy theory that they will literally put their heads in the sand and flat out ignore all forms of evidences.

Here's a list of links for anyone who doubts the facts. The user, Fionordequester, deserves credit for constructing this nice list.

Only 230 out of 1000 Sexual Assaults are Reported (also gives reasons for why that is):
https://www.rainn.org/statistics/crimin

Testimony Counts as "Evidence":
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/3502

Funimation Drops Vic after Investigation: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DzKJ7v6V4AA1st2.jpg
https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/bbs/ph
https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/bbs/ph

Relevant excerpts from "Illia Sadri": A long time con staff member
(https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/bbs/ph ... &start=105)

Before dumbasses storm the thread saying "wHy aRe tHey sAyiNg nOw?" This was always a thing as far back as 2011:
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/2000121-anime-and-manga-other-titles/67872530
https://hetalia-wank.livejournal.com/3187.html?thread=115571#t115571
http://vicmeggnognahorrorstories.tumblr.com/search/ Creepy

Photoshopping Claim is False (note how Valerie Dave's name was NOT blanked out when this was leaked):
https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/457/801/1cb.jpg
https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/457/803/fcf.jpg
https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/457/805/ab1.jpg

"Valerie Depa" FB Account was Stolen from Someone Else to Smear "KickVic":
https://www.deviantart.com/laundrysoapman/journal/Valerie-Depa-is-not-me-on-Facebook-784600047

https://prettyuglylittleliar.net/topic/3255-vic-mignogna/ (general Vic Stories and Rumors thread)
https://twitter.com/x/status/1094729435583037440
(sexual assault before he was famous)
also
https://twitter.com/x/status/1095125197932384256
(addressing common troll argument about her story)
https://twitter.com/x/status/1094020618327150592
(Funi VA testimony)
https://twitter.com/x/status/1093275331929296897
(Funi VA testimony)
https://twitter.com/x/status/1092892945051717635
(Funi VA testimony)
https://twitter.com/_maryados_/status/1085962248525205504 (non-consensual kiss to 15-yo with receipts)
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Just want to drop a little opinion I have on the whole matter, without knowing Vic's true intentions as a person. However, at the job I work, I did have a particular coworker that I had to consistently manage due to a very similar problem. I know him personally, and know how he can get with his attention for women, but I knew the guy wasn't a predator with his antics in touching, hugging and even kissing random people and coworkers. He saw it more as a feminine expression to immediately cross boundaries and form connections with people through very close and personal touches that were definitely a topic of conversation I had to routinely discipline him on. I see a lot of the same argument in Vic's tweets and responses to the allegations as he did: emotional expression, spreading love, and being raised with that sense of "being open and true with everyone".

Which is why I have a problem with his supporters: regardless of whether or not he is a predator too, the ideology he is even trying to encourage is a literal cancer on society. You are not supposed to be open and form quick emotional attachments to everyone you meet: that is blatantly unsafe and forcing yourself onto someone without consent on an emotional level. Hiding the message under "spread love" or "the world needs more love in it" is stupid ignorance that harms even the basic principles of human interaction. There are plenty of people who believe in it, and will blindly support it enough to raise their kids in the toxic ideology.

So simply put, even if he's not a rapist, then he frankly represents a big problem in misguided desire to spread positivity in the world. Like a Christian shoving their beliefs down your throat (ironic, since he probably does that too), they are forcing themselves onto you with how they view things rather than respecting your boundaries. Given that the practice is a practically the same concept as rape and while I personally can say that my coworker would likely never cross that line, I don't find it hard to believe that Vic isn't* above committing the sexual version of it as well.
 
LoopyPanda said:
Yeah. I remember seeing this around for a long time now, but I (foolishly) dismissed because I think certain "reasons" were dumb. I'm ashamed to not looking further and deeper than the actual shit that comes with it.

Regardless of how you feel about a person, it shouldn't suddenly prevent one from thinking critically. You have people screaming at the top of their lungs about "MeToo" and "SJWs", simply because it targets a dude. :thonk:

It makes me question that they really don't give a shit about Vic but rather, another dumbass attempt to point fingers at the "boogeyman left", 

Either way, I'm glad Vic got the fucking boot. Let's hope there aren't other fucking creeps lurking around.
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I dismissed a lot of the rumors too, part of that was because I found many of them to be either unfounded or ridiculous. The stink people made about him not wanting to sign yaoi made me just go "c'mon really", and the smear campaign about him being a raging homophobe that followed was dumb (ironically in a sense made dumber still because a couple of these sexual harassment claims have come from males lol). So when I first heard breeze of "he's kind of a creep with his teenage female fans" I thought that was the yaoi mob taking advantage of the fact that he has a lot of fans around that age. 

Buuuut once I heard that person I knew in college saying that in person to myself and someone else who was a fan of his kinda convinced me 'cuz this was a sort of introverted person in a tough position to say that. The more I looked at THAT specific thing, the more I thought it was going to be only a matter of time before all this happened. God only knows what happened with Monica Rial too.

The whole "anti-SJW"/MRA/Red Pill mob is certainly at play here, but I can't think of anyone case yet where there's been such a vocal defense of the person. A part of me wonders if this is really just crazy anime fans being crazy anime fans. Vic Mignogna is one of the best and up to now most beloved voice actors in anime. Maybe they just genuinely think he could do no wrong... even when he's basically admitted to and publicly apologized for the harassment claims. On that basis if I were one of those guys trying to push some kind of agenda like that (really, REALLY not BTW, full disclosure) this I'd probably stay away from Vic because all that'd do is make you look dumb . Only the willfully ignorant can say he's 100% innocent now.
Vegetto said:
Just want to drop a little opinion I have on the whole matter, without knowing Vic's true intentions as a person. However, at the job I work, I did have a particular coworker that I had to consistently manage due to a very similar problem. I know him personally, and know how he can get with his attention for women, but I knew the guy wasn't a predator with his antics in touching, hugging and even kissing random people and coworkers. He saw it more as a feminine expression to immediately cross boundaries and form connections with people through very close and personal touches that were definitely a topic of conversation I had to routinely discipline him on. I see a lot of the same argument in Vic's tweets and responses to the allegations as he did: emotional expression, spreading love, and being raised with that sense of "being open and true with everyone".

Which is why I have a problem with his supporters: regardless of whether or not he is a predator too, the ideology he is even trying to encourage is a literal cancer on society. You are not supposed to be open and form quick emotional attachments to everyone you meet: that is blatantly unsafe and forcing yourself onto someone without consent on an emotional level. Hiding the message under "spread love" or "the world needs more love in it" is stupid ignorance that harms even the basic principles of human interaction. There are plenty of people who believe in it, and will blindly support it enough to raise their kids in the toxic ideology.

So simply put, even if he's not a rapist, then he frankly represents a big problem in misguided desire to spread positivity in the world. Like a Christian shoving their beliefs down your throat (ironic, since he probably does that too), they are forcing themselves onto you with how they view things rather than respecting your boundaries. Given that the practice is a practically the same concept as rape and while I personally can say that my coworker would likely never cross that line, I don't find it hard to believe that Vic isn't* above committing the sexual version of it as well.
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See, this is basically exactly what I was thinking. I don't know that his intent was always overtly malicious. There are some guys that don't have much of a sense of personal space and don't quite have any sense that a joke they made or whatever came off as really creepy. So they just go and make the contact and make dirty jokes or whatever to people they don't know too well. For Vic this is probably worsened by the fact that he's surrounded by people who like getting these hugs and kisses without warning and like his creepy jokes that it's almost like he's being enabled and the issue just exacerbated and deepened. Imagine if that co-worker were surrounded by that regularly... probably would badly hurt his chances of getting over it.
 
Here's a new article about Vic, coming from 25 voice actors, some who wished to not be named (since all of them who came out were being harassed like crazy on social medias)


https://io9.gizmodo.com/one-of-anime-s-biggest-voices-accused-of-sexual-harassm-1832390505


When the first trailer for the Broly movie aired throughout the world, all the English Cast were named.... except for Broly, causing discussing on whether or not Vic was replaced or not. Turns out, they were thinking about replacing him since Summer 2018.

Furthermore, it seems that Vic either admits that he was courting women, by claiming it happened differently (which at the end, makes no differences, since he was being unfaithful to his former fiance.)
 
Well... I can't exactly say I think sleeping around some or somr infidelities should lead to job loss or anything but that being said...... GOOD WHOLESOME CHRISTIAN VALUES AMIRIGHT? ???
 
Well, it's been a while since this thread has been updated, but here's some updates. Seems like Vic had hired some of the worst lawyers man has ever done. Kind of sad, honestly.

Here's an threadnought of a bunch of lawyers who know nothing about Vic, but ripped through it for the bumptious defamation case:

[twitter]
https://twitter.com/x/status/1139656018261086214

Please read... it's a gold mine.

Chuck Huber, voice actor of 17 for the English dub, attempted to quashed it by drafting this letter:

D_39-pMW4AEQHIL.png


Funimation added an security system for voice actors. They referred it as "Vic Locks"

D_4g2TrXUAEfNQh.png


I seen a quite of few people that were on the Vic train bowing out after these revelations.
 
Not sure if anyone's seen any of the deposition videos but Nick Rekieta  a YouTube lawyer has had livestreams (now videos) of the entire deposition, even if you dont like Nick i still recommend watching the deposition streams as its the closest you can get to seeing it uncut.
 
I wouldn't advise people to check out his content since he seems to fall under the camp of the typical 'sjw ruin everything". Based on the few videos I've seen, people should read the transcript than putting up with whatever drivel nonsense he has to say to see the uncut videos of the case.
 
Did watch Vic's deposition, fast forwarded most of the commentary save for the occasional legalese translation and sometimes his opinions on the angles the lawyers are trying. Couldn't quite dodge ALL of the pause and insult the lawyer moments though. 

That said re: the actual depo, I'm a little surprised that Lemoine didn't at all press the fact that he sometimes uses con panels as a Christian church services of sorts after asking about the incident when he asked the two twins to his hotel room. That is kind of a flag for predatory behavior, really would give the impression that he doesn't mean anything sexual when he asks you to his room. I actually wasn't sure I totally believed all of this before he admitted all the shit about the affairs he's had. Thought it might have been the usual nutty fujoshi spreading rumors because he didn't sign their yaoi art but that REALLY makes him look suspicious. 

Despite what Rekeita said defamation is from what I can tell really hard to prove, so I don't think his chances are great, especially since he wasn't able to establish ultra well that he's lost a lot of work directly due to the accusations against him.
 
JamesYTP said:
Did watch Vic's deposition, fast forwarded most of the commentary save for the occasional legalese translation and sometimes his opinions on the angles the lawyers are trying. Couldn't quite dodge ALL of the pause and insult the lawyer moments though. 

That said re: the actual depo, I'm a little surprised that Lemoine didn't at all press the fact that he sometimes uses con panels as a Christian church services of sorts after asking about the incident when he asked the two twins to his hotel room. That is kind of a flag for predatory behavior, really would give the impression that he doesn't mean anything sexual when he asks you to his room. I actually wasn't sure I totally believed all of this before he admitted all the shit about the affairs he's had. Thought it might have been the usual nutty fujoshi spreading rumors because he didn't sign their yaoi art but that REALLY makes him look suspicious. 

Despite what Rekeita said defamation is from what I can tell really hard to prove, so I don't think his chances are great, especially since he wasn't able to establish ultra well that he's lost a lot of work directly due to the accusations against him.
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I know that feeling. When I first saw the case a while back, I dismissed them because it was surrounding some fan-art he didn’t sign. When you are presented with something like that without any form of context or been shared so much that any original meaning had been diluted by various of different takes, you won’t see the bigger picture, but these examples are just countless of things this guy had done throughout his career. 

That’s why I went ahead and dig deep, and boy oh boy, I’m glad I did. Some are slow on the uptake because either they’re too busy owning the other side (i.e don’t actually care about the guy), used the anger to increase their traffic on their videos or websites or simply just plain ignorant. 

And you’re on the money that winning a defamation case is ridiculously hard to prove. He will have to provide evidences that they are made with ill, malicious intent, false information and/or lies and have to impact his life in some crucial way. Considering the way, the court had shown so far, it’s not looking good for Vic nor his lawyers. Anyone still sticking by his side is probably way too deep into this to leave at this point.
 
Indeed, one thought that's occurred to me though is that the natural conclusion to this might be that even if Monica Rial, Ron Toye, Jamie Marchi and Funimation all get off that it won't actually effect the court of public opinion in the slightest because of how much it takes to prove defamation. It's fascinating that Vic Mignogna really has absolutely nothing to lose in this case since fans are funding his legal defense, a lot less than the defendants whose reputations have at least taken a hit from the case.
 
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