Aresef

Another guest whose name I don't recognize. I guess I need to find me some culture!

A convention or a studio can’t take that risk when this is a pattern of reputed behavior going back 30 years—before he ever did anime. Knowing what they can’t deny knowing now, if he touches or kisses a fan without consent, if he sexually assaults a peer, that’s a lawsuit. Or regardless, there are fans who will choose not to support an event or release that would include him. Funimation and Rooster Teeth clearly decided he’s too much of a liability to have around anymore.

The presumption of innocence applies to legal proceedings. Notwithstanding existing agreements, conventions and companies are free to decide they shouldn’t associate with him. Was Mignogna spreading positivity with that former student of his in 1989? To believe that every single one of these allegations is untrue is to believe in a massive conspiracy stretching back years. And cui bono?

You may want to get Vic's autograph, but he has a pattern of behavior that for years and years was protected by the whisper network. I'm not accusing Otakon specifically of having a part in this, but he was a known problem among staff at the conventions he frequented, as has been referenced in the io9 and ANN stories and elsewhere. While some of the more serious allegations like those made by Monica Rial and others did not come forward until only recently, that Mignogna is a creep is generally not news. With the public airing of the claims against him, there is no longer plausible deniability for the events that would invite him and the studios that would employ him. If he were to come to an event and further engage in the kind of behavior that has been documented--I'm not a lawyer, but there could be liability on the part of the event for having invited him despite having known his history.

Phew!

Precisely. Looking at who's coming out and the lack of defenders in the industry, looking at the understandable explanations Rial et al never told their story publicly and knowing the years of talk among fans and among convention staffers across the country, a reasonable person must conclude that, at bare minimum, he is too toxic to employ and certainly too much of a risk to invite to another convention.

ANN is censoring threads because people are engaging in conspiratorial nonsense.

The Minnesota lawyer is actually a practicing lawyer, according to an online database from the Minnesota judiciary. He just doesn't have a website. I'm not a mod, but I think we need to get this thread back on track. io9 report: https://io9.gizmodo.com/one-of-anime-s-biggest-voices-accused-of-sexual-harassm-1832390505 Samantha Inoue-Harte had something happen at her home: https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2019-02-20/police-report-dub-voice-actress-door-damaged-classified-criminal-mischief/.143617 Monica Rial elaborates: https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2019-02-20/bulma-voice-actress-monica-rial-shares-alleged-inappropriate-encounters-with-vic-mignogna/.143664

I mean, anime was a mistake...

Thanks!

I don’t think so. There are just people who would like to read into them things that are obviously not there, because there’s a case they want to make that is not supported by what is public. Here’s a post from Samantha Inoue-Harte reflecting on the internal probe, including evidence of Vic’s behavior around a Japanese guest at a con:

Good enough for me. Thanks.

Without naming names, I'm going to paraphrase a voice actor I've heard from. Not speaking specifically about the Vic situation, if you speak up about something, you run the risk of directors and higher-ups getting antsy about casting you in the future. Suddenly, there goes your health insurance. But after the spreadsheet and the ANN piece, people like Monica Rial and Jamie Marchi must have judged that the cost of speaking up was now far less. I'm not staff at Otakon or anywhere else, but I'd put money on question screeners being more common.

I know there are typically two orientation sessions on Thursday. Last time I was at the latter of the two. I was wondering when the earlier session typically happens, so I can make arrangements to be there in time for that instead.

Whatever he does, it won’t be in anime or video games. There are not a lot of companies that dub anime, and these people all talk to one another. Whether it’s New Generation or Bang Zoom or Studiopolis or NYAV Post and no matter who’s directing, it’s a small enough community that everybody knows who he is, that many of these people have had experiences or heard the stories. And many of these people, if they weren’t looking for an excuse to distance themselves already, likely find him too toxic to work with now. So he would have to relocate, since there’s not voiceover work for him in Texas. And he’d have to find his way into a union project, get Taft-Hartley’d and all that, and then hope to find a truly daft casting director.