Time to shut this puppy down.
Before we say anything, let’s make something clear, Free! is not a boy’s love series. It’s about swimming. Regardless of Vic Mignogna’s views on homosexuality, since the series isn’t about boy’s love it doesn’t matter if he voices a character in it! Whether his voice is fitting for the character in question? That’s another story. And regardless of the things he may or may not have done, his behavior is not going to get him kicked off the cast for this anime! He’s not gonna get fired for this, so your petition is useless anyway. By the time you made this petition, the voices were likely already dubbed. So it’s a waste of time.
1. Dear god, not this shit again. You know that art he was asked to sign? It wasn’t just artwork of innocent yaoi where the characters were holding hands or hugging or something G-rated like that. No, it was hardcore porn. And I don’t know about you, but if I were asked to sign any kind of porn I’d be pretty uncomfortable! He is not obligated to sign porn if it makes him uncomfortable.
2) That quote is completely out of context of the video. He’s talking about people on forums and blogs making claims trying to defame him because of allegations that he doens’t like yaoi, that he was trying to sue a hotel over someone leaving a yaoi manga under his door, or him assaulting a fan. The fans who are doing that, and making posts like this, are desperate for attention is what he’s saying - not that yaoi fans in general are desperate for attention. He’s saying people like the person who made this post - making unfounded claims based on forum or blog posts - are looking for attention.
4. Okay, wow, this one is ridiculous. First of all, way to take things out of context! Vic has not read the manga of Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, and the anime as many people know takes a different turn than the manga. Also, Vic was talking about shipping wars. He misspoke, which is a mistake anyone can make. Also, I did some digging and research and while yes, CLAMP does have the tendency to put in gay couples and has stated that love transcends all barriers, there is nothing stating Fai and Kurogane’s relationship or feelings. Nothing in canon states it, and while people claim that CLAMP confirmed them in an interview, I’ve found no evidence that this interview exists. There is no video, audio, or written text. As far as we know, Fai and Kurogane are in no relationship. And as for that link you left to the TV Tropes Ho Yay page for CLAMP, that isn’t evidence. As someone who actually frequents TV Tropes, Ho Yay is where fans take delight in any gay subtext, even if it’s not supposed to be subtext. The Ho Yay page is nothing more than fan speculation.
5) Anecdotal evidence - which is evidence of nothing. Even you said that gay fans have had good interactions with him - so does that discount everything that‘s been posted because it’s contradicting?
6) While the comment may have been a poor decision, he is right when he said holocaust does have a normal definition. He was making a hyperbole of the original definition. It was a poor choice in words, but he is correct on saying that it has a normal definition. It doesn’t mean he’s racist or anti-semetic.
7. and 8. Those fans asked him to do these things. They may be underage, but they did consent. Is it still creepy? Yeah, not gonna deny that. But you’re making it sound like he initiated it and the underage fans didn’t consent or ask. If those girls wanted to be kissed by Vic or reenact a scene from Ouran with him, then that’s their choice. They wanted it and it made them happy. Don’t go turning someone else’s happiness into something it isn’t.
9. This image is sketchy as hell. We don’t know the context, or even if the person who submitted it to this blog is either the girl in the picture or the one taking the photo. But honestly, unless either of those two WANTED to make Vic look bad, then this picture wouldn’t have been taken.
10. That blog is filled with a lot of second-hand accounts that may or may not be true. People on the internet have the tendency to lie about people they don’t like so they’ll get a bad reputation. Whether the claims on this blog are truth or not, they can’t be backed up and can’t be used as evidence!
11. There’s nothing that indicates there was fighting going on, and nothing that really indicates the arguments involved Vic himself. The actor who plays Percival giving him a death glare doesn’t exactly mean anything. As for the groping, again, the girl was okay with it and since it was her BOYFRIEND who asked him to sing “Happy Birthday” to her, I’m going to say he was okay with it too. At least since there’s nothing indicating otherwise.
12. This link is broken, and since there’s nothing saying “I’ve changed my url to xxx”, I can only assume OP deleted. Therefore, since the evidence can’t be judged due to lack of it, this can’t be taken as truth. (If anyone can find this account so it can be properly judged, that would be a big help as it’s quite bothersome having this thread hanging)
13. OP admits this post was written five years ago and that 1. they’ve matured since then and that 2. Vic has changed since they last encountered him and made this account. They also admit that they lack burden of proof except for maybe a picture. Since this evidence is not recent and OP has even said the Vic of 2010 is different from the Vic of 2014 (as that’s the date their response to someone is). And really, holding people to old sins when they’ve changed is pretty crappy to do.
14) Again, this is not evidence of anything - “I have a friend who said X Y or Z” is hearsay. We can’t confirm who the friends are, whether or not they’ve worked with Vic, or even if they exist in the first place.
A lot of these are taken out of context, or secondhand stories which prove absolutely nothing - it’s anecdotal evidence and anonymous accusations that are leveled at someone. No names, dates, or even the con name is given - all point to either not happening or exaggeration. “Beyond reasonable doubt” is a standard that is used for a reason - accusations and anecdotes are hardly proof of anything.
1) You can, indeed, kiss an underage person on the cheek, or hug them, or interact with them physically so as long as it is not sexual in nature and as long as you have their consent - it’s standard at cons to ask for consent whether or not you can touch another person. It’s not sexual assault or statutory rape unless sex is involved. Hence the sexual assault or statutory rape - it must involve sexual contact.
2) He refused to sign porn. He’s allowed to say what he can sign and what he does not sign, and that isn’t homophobia, it’s being uncomfortable with signing porn.
3) A poor choice in words, yes. Holocaust joke? Probably not.
4) We simply cannot know how many accusations are false, which is why we must prove them beyond reasonable doubt, which none of these posts and videos do.
5. No, this post IS defamation. Why? Because you’ve taken your “evidence” out of context, and a good chunk is made up of second-hand accounts that cannot be proved. And really, who’s to say that all these people AREN’T lying? Since there’s no proof to back it up, these claims should be questioned. Vic is innocent until proven guilty, not the other way around. And since as was already mentioned, you’ve taken things DELIBERATELY out of context, you’re already trying to make him look bad. So even if all those stories were true and could be backed up, you’re still trying to take what he’s said in other scenarios out of context to make it like he’s saying stuff he isn’t. Regardless of what sketchy things he has done, false accusations are still wrong.
Now we’re not saying that Vic Mignogna is a paragon of innocence. He probably has done shitty things that can’t be defended, but the list provided here can’t be taken as fact. And if you don’t like him, that’s fine. We’re not fans of him, and only debunked this because we’ve seen him be vilified before with faulty evidence. As has been stated, second-hand claims and taking things out of context does not do anything aside from falsely accusing him for things he hasn’t done. If there was legitimate evidence here, that would be one thing. But without it, we cannot act as if he’s the scum of the earth.
If I, as a separate mod, can elaborate on a few of your clarifications:
The idea of being uncomfortable with homosexuals making you homophobic is somewhat dangerous. Yes, actively displaying your comfortableness carelessly, or saying that your uncomfortable-ness comes from some innate wrongness on the part of homosexuals, has some negative effects. But declaring mere feelings as a sign of homophobia follows about the same logic as homophobia itself - punishment for a thing people cannot control. While you can control your reaction to feelings, to be sure, controlling the feelings themselves is borderline impossible. You might have a point on a broad perspective, albeit one irrelivent to this case, but a change in semantics might be worth your while, because as it stands right now, you sound like you’re encouraging the thought police.
In terms of number 3 - to be blunt, who died and made him king? One man’s opinion does not an absolute authority make. I mean, if it does, we could just take the opinion of Mel Brooks, who was a German Jew who lived through world war 2, and went on to write The Producers, which involved a play called Springtime For Hitler. The movie essentially stands as a testament to his believe that no, you can totally joke about Nazis - and at least theoretically by extension, the holocaust. What makes his opinion less - or indeed more - valid then the man you mentioned?
4 is… odd to bring up, I think. If you’re going to start playing the probability game, that would imply - at least to me - that you have a fairly low regard of your evidence, or at the very least how we’re going to intemperate that evidence. Or maybe just a low regard of “us” in general, but still.
As for the last one, well, congratulations, I suppose, you can’t be sued for this - at least assuming that misinterpretation of evidence isn’t considered an outright lie legally. Unfortunately, this isn’t exactly a courtroom, and I don’t think anyone was really going to mention slander - far more likely that they mention that your evidence is faulty.
