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NEWS: Vic Mignogna Loses Appeal of Defamation Case, Faces More Attorney's Fees

From what I've gathered, a lot of what he was doing falls into the "open secret" camp where most people were kind of skeeved out by him but the full aggregate of his behavior was not fully put together- and many of his infractions in isolation weren't bad enough to justify cutting him off entirely, at least until the floodgates opened. He used to be a big deal at conventions, I imagine it would take a lot to justify axing him as a guest.

It makes me wonder, if fans and youtubers knew about his behavior for this long, how has the industry let it slide?

You know, professionally, the earliest point that Vic should've run into trouble was ironically the FMA 03 dub. Allegedly, he asked the writers to tone down the script so that Ed wouldn't have to outright proclaim his atheism due to Vic's own beliefs. The instant he refused to play the character straight should've been the instant they got someone else. Ironically, this turned out to be his most iconic role and the one that he'd never be replaced for.

I've thought this since before meeting him and seeing what a weirdo he is, but was he ever that great of a VA? I'll grant him some scenes as Ed in the 03 FMA and maybe he was alright as Yukito from Air, but aside from that? He made Tamaki so much more annoying than necessary. Most of his ADV roles were awkward sounding. Fittingly enough, his most natural sounding role was Kurtz from FMP, a perverted wannabe playboy in his 20s who peeps on teenage girls. Maybe it wasn't even acting.

louis6578 wrote:

You know, professionally, the earliest point that Vic should've run into trouble was ironically the FMA 03 dub. Allegedly, he asked the writers to tone down the script so that Ed wouldn't have to outright proclaim his atheism due to Vic's own beliefs. The instant he refused to play the character straight should've been the instant they got someone else. Ironically, this turned out to be his most iconic role and the one that he'd never be replaced for.

I don't agree with this. That was common practice with dubs back then and it's still a common practice in dubs today that industry people and translators defend. If anything, it was far more acceptable with fans back then for dubs to change things and alter characters and plotlines given the way people swore up and down for the English dubs for Dragonball Z, Shin-chan, Super Milk-chan, Ghost Stories, Sgt. Frog, and many other shows with fast and loose dubs. If Fullmetal Alchemist came out today then yes, I could see an instance like that being yet another dub controversy on the internet with people complaining about a dub shoving religion into a show, but I can't really say something like that was out of place or odd in the early 2000s and warrents controversy.

louis6578 wrote:

It makes me wonder, if fans and youtubers knew about his behavior for this long, how has the industry let it slide?

So many reasons.

Some of Mignogna's behavior was an open secret stretching back to the mid-2000s, but the most lurid details we're not known by many people. For the most part, he was generally just believed to be a whinny, pre-Madonna douche that acted slightly inappropriately with his fans, but didn't cross any black and white lines.


-t

Excoman wrote:

So, is he guilty, or innocent? On this site users hate him (not me, I have no reason to hate a person that never interacted with me in my life, regardless of what they done somewhere else), but on others many people believe in him.

Victor Mignogna was not on trial, he was the plaintiff suing Funimation and three others for one million dollars over them interfering with his ability to find work. He lost his court case in the anti-slapp phase, which he appealed, the appeal sided with the defendants and even ended up with Victor having to pay additional lawyer fees to the defendants.

It’s obvious to most Victor was purely suing to harass and stop co-workers from freely speaking out against him, which is why he has to foot over half a million dollars to pay for his failed lawsuit.

NiPah wrote:

Excoman wrote: So, is he guilty, or innocent? On this site users hate him (not me, I have no reason to hate a person that never interacted with me in my life, regardless of what they done somewhere else), but on others many people believe in him. Victor Mignogna was not on trial, he was the plaintiff suing Funimation and three others for one million dollars over them interfering with his ability to find work. He lost his court case in the anti-slapp phase, which he appealed, the appeal sided with the defendants and even ended up with Victor having to pay additional lawyer fees to the defendants. It’s obvious to most Victor was purely suing to harass and stop co-workers from freely speaking out against him, which is why he has to foot over half a million dollars to pay for his failed lawsuit.

The funny thing is, he could have called it a win if he had not appealed. While his suit was thrown out, Rial was awarded a fraction of her attorney fees, and Vic had spent almost nothing since the lawsuit was financed by his angry fans. Working on the idea that the purpose of the suit was to financially punish those who spoke up against him, he had actually succeeded by the bank account numbers. However, by appealing he has spent more money on the appeal (possibly blowing by what had been raised by angry fans), has to pay the attorney fees for everyone he sued on the appeal, but the appeal specifically ruled that the initial judgement was too low, reducing the financial damage he was able to inflict considerably. A self-own for a truly disturbing person.

I always felt like casting him as Rohan in Diamond is Unbreakable was a great move. An egotistical, self-absorbed asshole? Yep, that's Vic!

I've thought this since before meeting him and seeing what a weirdo he is, but was he ever that great of a VA? I'll grant him some scenes as Ed in the 03 FMA and maybe he was alright as Yukito from Air, but aside from that? He made Tamaki so much more annoying than necessary. Most of his ADV roles were awkward sounding. Fittingly enough, his most natural sounding role was Kurtz from FMP, a perverted wannabe playboy in his 20s who peeps on teenage girls. Maybe it wasn't even acting.

Vic Mignogna appeared in lots of 2000s era internet culture from Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series to That Guy With The Glasses skits. He was also the guy behind the famous 2009 Sakuracon video.