Sexual allegations against the voice actor Christian Potenza left the fans of the popular Canadian kids TV series animated series Total Drama Island in complete shock and disappointment. For those who don’t know him, Potenza was the voice behind the iconic Chris McLean, one of the characters from the series Total Drama Island.
He was later fired and replaced with a new actor, Terry McGurrin. The accusations, however, obliterated his positive image with the fans, and elicited bitter responses from them. Let’s shed some light on the sexual misconduct allegations against the voice actor.
Allegations against Potenza, explained
It all started with a Reddit post in February 2022 which was shared by the internet user, Sonya Cote. In the post, she called Potenza a “dangerous predator” and accused him of sexual misconduct, emotional manipulation, drugging, and scams.
Even though Sonya never used Potenza’s name, people assumed that it was him based on her characterization of the abuser. As per her statement, Potenza, during his “UNLOCK” voice coaching sessions would meet the students in a dark room, make them lie on the ground, and then drug them.
He allegedly laid his hands on some of them, coerced them into sexual activities, and later, blackmailed them against telling anyone about his actions. Sonya even mentioned that multiple victims reached out to her and revealed the details of physical and sexual assaults committed by Potenza towards them.
She also added how the actor financially exploited the students. He lured them by making fake promises of preparing them for professional success, but in reality, he unceremoniously dismissed them after “taking payment in money, drugs, and alcohol”. Speaking on this subject in detail, Sonya said,
“He did not deliver on promises made from his courses or so-called teachings. After initially baiting his subjects with promises of a great voice demo, a successful career in voice overs, and of getting them an agent, he takes payment in money, drugs or alcohol, often for months ongoing, then flakes out and or blames them, or sends his ‘graduated actors’ to a talent agency, and moves on to his next series of victims.”
The piece of news saw an outpouring of hostile reactions from fans. For years, Potenza was associated with the popular animated character, Chris McLean, and with time he established his status as a fan favorite. Many people, especially the fans of Total Drama were disgusted and disappointed with the revelation. Later, he was removed from the show and replaced with Terry McGurrin, who performs the voice of Chris McLean now.
