The Game Awards winner, Genshin Impact, recently announced its decision to fire Elliot Gindi, the voice actor of the five-star character, Tighnari. This comes after multiple victims came out with grooming allegations against the voice actor, all of which were confirmed by Gindi himself.
An update was released on Twitter, where it announced that Gindi will no longer be the English-language voice actor for the character due to a “breach of contract.” It also announced that it’s going to hire a new voice actor for Tighnari, and all old voice lines will be re-recorded.
Gindi released a TwitLonger, days before the news came out. He apologized to everyone that he hurt, and conceded that all the allegations made against him were true. He did, however, clear up some things, such as whether he disrespected people’s pronouns, whether he was waiting for someone underage to turn 18 when he flat-out rejected them, and whether he did anything untoward with a minor in the first place.
“I am deeply sorry to those I hurt. It was never my intention to hurt anyone. I tried to keep it above board. I thought everything was consensual and safe. I tried to tell myself I could make it ethical with clear communication and boundaries. I was so wrong and I realized this which is why I tried to come clean to everyone I know, log off and get therapy. To those who believed in me even after I came clean I’m sorry to have let you down. Please do not use this as an opportunity to bash other cast members or the game. No one knew.
“What is true: All of the screenshots of the chat logs. Yes, all of the cringy sex talk. Yes, I did threaten suicide if it got out. I didn’t think through the severity of that. I’m sorry. I never intended to change someone ace, they insisted this is what they wanted. I ended things, but later gave in to emotional weakness and re-engaged when I was offered a chance to.
“What is not true: That I knowingly did anything with anyone underage That I did not respect someone’s pronoun changes. I was not “waiting” for someone 15 to turn 18. I flatly rejected them.
“Re: Other questionable practices: There are times when I’ve streamed in my boxers, but there was never any sexual intention nor focus meant by this. I did not realize it could be interpreted that way and I apologize profusely to anyone who was made uncomfortable by this. In addition, I did not engage with anyone in the ways described above outside of those 3 people I was involved with.
“I understand what I did was wrong and inappropriate, and to the best of my ability tried to confess as much to those I contacted. I reacted inappropriately to situations where I felt desired, and caused harm to so many people in the process. I understand that my actions have consequences, and am committing myself to accepting my responsibility while making the effort to get – and do – better.”
Paimon’s English-language voice actress, Corina Boettger, released a TikTok video with her thoughts on the incident. She addressed that some of the victims are disabled or were part of the LGBT+ community. She said that Gindi tried to call her before the news broke, gave her a “watered-down” version of the events. She states that Hoyovere’s decision to fire him was a good one.
Meanwhile, other voice actors, such as Zach Aguilar (Cyberpunk: Edgerunners), Alejandro Saab (VA for Cyno), Anne Yatco (Miraculous Ladybug), and Sarah Natochenny (Ash Ketchum in the Pokémon anime,) also expressed approval for Hoyoverse’s decision, and solidarity with the victims.
However, rumors currently persist in the community that Gindi is using burner/fake accounts to troll other people on Twitter, and it’s alleged that he’s still messaging the victims to this day after the news came out. It’s currently unknown when Hoyoverse will announce its newest voice actor for the character, but it could happen during the next update livestream or through social media.
Published: Feb 16, 2023 06:56 pm