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INTEREST: 'Far From Perfect': Fans Recount Unwanted Affection from Voice Actor Vic Mignogna

SailorTralfamadore wrote:

That's all on me, though, and my particular ways I engage with art. I'd be curious to hear how other people parse this stuff.

To be honest, it's not something that spoils my enjoyment. I still love Recovery of a MMO Junkie, and I remember the story around the director (I think) came out while I was still watching that show.

At the same time, the instances of coming across something like this is rare for me. Celebrity news isn't something I usually look up.

It's possible society is in this situation because there has not been enough conversations regarding how to react to trauma and abuse. People need to know the options that are available and what the responsible thing to do is. They can also receive support and encouragement from individuals who have gotten through similar things.

Simply, I am unsure what constitutes "victim abuse"?

I think like most things it's a case of: don't be a dick. Use "I" statements, phrase it in terms of what you did/think you would do, don't tell other people what to do, don't be judgmental or condescending. Listen.

MarshalBanana wrote:

Mixed feelings on this, certain things seem harmless, kissing on the cheek is something that while may not be liked, is not something to make a deal out of.

I wanted to call this out specifically, because the 'it's not a big deal' argument is so widespread in the abstract. I know no deliberate harm was meant by this comment but the blunt answer is, you don't get to decide whether it's a big deal or not. That judgement is entirely on the recipient of the behavior. Some people have past trauma; some people just don't like being deliberately touched by strangers; some people just don't like contact on their face; some people don't like kissing. The point is that that decision should ultimately be in the hands of the recipient of the contact; anything else is, almost by definition, unwanted contact.

And it's absolutely true that standards over this have changed (and changed drastically) in the last couple of decades, and that it can be easy to, as it were, 'fall behind' and think that certain behaviors are all right that just aren't. But so far, Mignogna hasn't offered anything even remotely close to "I understand that my previous conduct was inappropriate and sometimes unwanted; I'm sorry for the harm I've caused, and I will make an active attempt to do better going forward." If he's to get any forgiveness for his behavior then it's got to start with sincere remorse, and so far I haven't seen any evidence of that.

Dewey Donedidit wrote:

It sounds like you just want him to come out and say he wont sign them because it's against his religion. He's obviously trying to be polite to the people who want him to sign stuff and let them down more gently than saying it's against his views which might hurt them or cause a scene.

I don't think a guy who forces conventions to let him hold religious services during his panels or sells his Christian music at the same cons and told a Jewish fan that he could change his religion is particularly concerned about hurting people's feelings with his religion. And you completely ignored the part where he lied about CLAMP themselves telling him "Fai from TRC isn't gay" to support his religious views

The problem is that dismissing this stuff as "gossip" or "drama" is what causes legitimately creepy behavior to get ignored in tight-knit social circles like the anime community. A lot of this reckoning started on Twitter because of some people in anime fan communities who people had always had vague "suspicions" about turned out to be actually hurting vulnerable people. That's what's caused people to feel the need to speak up on these sorts of issues even when they're just borderline or non-criminal, because how often it can be masking worse things we don't hear about -- or create an environment where it's easier for other people to get away with those worse things, even if the individual doing this particular "borderline creepy" stuff isn't.

Here are a couple of good articles on how this happens in social circles and particularly in geek communities. Here's an advice column with two real-life examples where people excusing "borderline" behavior made it harder for victims to speak up about definitely-not-borderline behavior.

Now, of course, that doesn't mean the consequences should be the same. But at this point, all people are asking is that Vic be made aware of this behavior and that cons consider not inviting him until he shows some remorse--not any legal repercussions. If he simply apologized, acknowledged what was wrong about it and knocked it off in the future, I think a lot of people would feel better about him going to cons. Not everyone, but a lot of people. (I would, at least.) And not the self-serving "I'm sorry I have to stop this so my REAL fans have to suffer now!" non-apology apology he posted on Twitter a few days ago.

As for the stuff that "he's just being a Christian!": I live in Texas and know plenty of Texas Christians who are not homophobes. People interpret the Bible in different but equally legitimate ways. My stepdad is an ordained minister with a Ph.D. in theology and he's fully accepting of the fact that I'm a lesbian. What's more, as others have pointed out, there are quite a few other VAs who are vocal about their Christian faith, like Caitlin Glass, but they don't get the same pushback -- likely because they don't make the condescending comments about gay people he does, and they respect other people's different faiths and wouldn't say something to a Jewish fan like Vic did here. It can be done!

Edit: some messed-up URL formatting, fixed

Kadmos1 wrote:

The following are 23 other VA that have reacted to the #kickvic, #MeToo, or a similar tweet type of tweet. I base this off of tweets commenting about that tweet, a re-tweet, or a liked tweet. These are from activities I saw on their accounts between 1/25 and current. Obviously, there are a lot more VA out there that have responded in some manner: Michelle Rojas, Alex Moore, Aaron Roberts, Alejandro Saab, Corina Boettger, Neil Kaplan, Tara Jayne Sands, Cassandra Lee Morris, Kellen Goff, Carrie Keranen, Chris Sabat, Amber Lee Connors, Chris Hackney, Sarah Anne Williams, Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, Steve Blum, Roger Craig Smith, Laura Bailey, Marianne Miller, Danielle McRae, David Wald, Greg Ayres, and Josh Grelle.

We can add Tatum and Neil Kaplan to that list.