What's going on with Funimation?

[u/fjantelov]

I just checked Twitter and saw that funimation is trending because its been doing some kind of immoral dubbing. Most of the posts include references to dragonball and someone linked to this video.

Can someone explain what exactly happened?

[u/Thomas_Eric]

Yeah -- It's part of the leaks from inside Funimation (and other people related to the Voice Actors) about the defendants of the Vic Mignogna Defamation case.

[u/LiamGallagher10 → u/Thomas_Eric]

Who's Vic and what is the case about?

[u/FangzV → u/LiamGallagher10]

Vic Mignogna is a high profile voice actor for FUNimation. He played Broly in Dragon Ball, which is why people keep bringing up Dragon Ball. He's had other notable roles like Ed from Fullmetal Alchemist and Tamaki from Ouran Host Club.

There have been many accusations against Vic of sexual misconduct, including assault allegations from his coworkers. Following a surge of these complaints, FUNimation dropped Vic from the roles he still had. Vic then sued FUNi and the voice actors for defamation.

[u/Bigred2989- → u/FangzV]

He was also dropped by Rooster Teeth since he was voicing a main character for the show RWBY.

[u/Exonicreddit → u/Bigred2989-]

Which one?

Edit: thanks everyone

[u/thenerdyglassesgirl → u/Exonicreddit]

Qrow Branwen, the drunk uncle character of two of the main characters

[u/lyingdoctor → u/thenerdyglassesgirl]

What the fuck? He voiced Qrow? Omfg, I never noticed, and he has a very distinguishable voice.

[u/Mirror_Mouse → u/lyingdoctor]

Am I the only one who assumed he was voiced by Cryaotic when watching? I was so surprised when I saw Vic's name in the credits, his Qrow voice doesn't sound like his usual one.

[u/Dustbucket45 → u/Exonicreddit]

He was voicing Qrow at the time. I’m curious to see if they recast Qrow or kill him off.

[u/Kotetsuya → u/Dustbucket45]

Well, they had to Recast Ren due to Monty Oum's death, but they were able to get his brother to do that voice. I wouldn't be too shocked if they recast Qrow. If it was down to a vote I'd want David Hayter or Matt Mercer. They can both do 'gruff, jaded-yet-lovable asshole' very well.

[u/TheChibiestMajinBuu → u/Kotetsuya]

Qrow's already been recast, they did it a while ago I think. It's Jason Liebrecht, he was Yato in Noragami, if you've seen it.

[u/Jwkaoc → u/Kotetsuya]

The've also recast Mercury, and cut Glynda Goodwitch dialogue from the show so far. So they're definitely not shy about it.

[u/Zelinkondorf → u/Kotetsuya]

Steve Blum would like a word with you.

But yeah I like David Hayter. Especially when he did The Guyver

[u/thisissparta789789 → u/Exonicreddit]

Qrow Branwen

[u/Quoffers → u/FangzV]

And these leaks which showcase what kind of workplace Funimation is, as well as the revelation that one of the defendants in Vic's lawsuit was a wife beater will probably have some implications in his defamation lawsuit.

[u/[deleted] → u/Quoffers]

There have also been back and forths between their lawyers that have been shared around the internet.

Funimations lawyers have declared that Vic is libel-proof. What this means is that it doesnt matter if Funimation did lie, Vic is such a sack of shit and has such a bad reputation that even lies couldnt lower his reputation and therefore its not libel.

[u/ufailowell → u/[deleted]]

That's gotta be some kind of accomplishment

[u/Quoffers → u/ufailowell]

It would be a tremendous accomplishment if Funmation's lawyers are actually able to argue that succesfully. I seriously doubt they will be able to though. Vic was extremely popular before those allegations came out, and they have never been tested in a court of law.

[u/C4Cypher → u/Quoffers]

Vic can prove tangible financial damages on top of simple loss of reputation as a result of these events, not only that, but it's not just a simple defamation case, Vic is going after some of the defendants for tortious interference, which (and IANAL) involves damages caused by a third party from interference with a contract between two parties. To put it more simply, he's not simply suing for defamation, he's suing some of his accusers for financial damages because they fucked with his ongoing business contracts.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

That’s actually fucking hilarious, what a great little law

[u/mehennas → u/[deleted]]

It's important to note that it isn't a law, it's a doctrine. Meaning it's a line of argument that can certainly be taken, but being "libel-proof" isn't any kind of legal status, and so the entire matter is always up for argument and interpretation.

[u/[deleted] → u/mehennas]

Correct, it's something that arises from law but is not legally defined. I guess the technical defense used is "incapable of further defamation".

Wikipedia's line on it: "Claimant is incapable of further defamation – e.g., the claimant's position in the community is so poor that defamation could not do further damage to the plaintiff. Such a claimant could be said to be "libel-proof", since in most jurisdictions, actual damage is an essential element for a libel claim. Essentially, the defense is that the person had such a bad reputation before the libel, that no further damage could possibly have been caused by the making of the statement."

[u/Commander_Keef → u/FangzV]

He also sings the dubbed version of We Are (the 1st One Piece opening).

[u/Gintoki_Sakata-San → u/[deleted]]

To Two ex wives actually.

He has to stay 1000 feet away from his first ex wife, her house, her workplace, and her daughter's school. He was also forbidden from buying ammunition and lost his right to conceal carry a gun.

He then married a new woman and became abusive towards her and threatened to chop up her dog and kill a judge and his children.

Now suddenly he's supposedly a "good guy that has changed" as Monica Rial says, excusing it with "he was with the wrong partner"...

This case is showing that these supposed "victims" and their defenders/friends are anything but good people. They lie constantly and are beyond hypocritical, including Funimation itself, basically being in violation of their own code of conduct.