Voice Actor Faces Sexual Harassment Allegations

Vic Mignogna is a huge name in the anime community, particularly for his work as Ed Elric in “Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood” and Broly in “Dragon Ball Z: Broly.” He has also voiced Qrow Branwen in RWBY, an animation series created by Monty Oum in 2013. However, the voice actor is under some serious fire from all sides of social media.
A few weeks ago, Mignogna was let go from both Funimation and Rooster Teeth after sexual harassment accusations arose against him. The majority of these allegations included Mignogna allegedly touching the fans inappropriately, hugging them or kissing them without consent, and one co-star was also accusing him of threatening her with sexual violence, nonverbally. Funimation is not on record as making an announcement of firing Mignogna, but Rooster Teeth released a statement about it, promising that the creative content of RWBY will not change.
Mignogna has linked several articles to his tweet he made in defense of himself, releasing no recent statements on the matter. In his statement, he mentions that he will no longer hug or kiss his fans. Many of the victims said he never asked if it was alright if he could do so, and that he had reached under one fan’s sweatshirt. He then apologized and stated that he was raised in a very touchy-feely family. Some may argue this excuses his behavior towards some of the fans, but what about his co-star? She had also allegedly been raped by another co-star, who bragged about it around the company. There was no word in the article about whether action was taken against the other co-star or not.
Rooster Teeth has seen a lot of backlash on their decision to let Mignogna go, some of his supporters even declaring that they will boycott the seventh volume (season) of RWBY. Mignogna has also been removed from several future conventions due to these allegations on top of losing his contracts with Rooster Teeth and Funimation.
Rooster Teeth has not said who they will replace the voice of Qrow Branwen with. Fans have some validation that two large animation companies are standing behind them. Their firing of Mignogna says, “We believe you.” For someone who has been violated by a celebrity, the support of these companies are a huge relief. Far too often largely famous celebrities are given a smack on the wrist and allowed to continue their work despite doing horrible things, simply because they are famous and “iconic.”
Hopefully with the crackdown on Mignogna, other companies will follow suit and be stricter about appropriate behavior for all employees.