Funimation has come under fire once again, this time over their business relationship with convicted sex offender, Scott Freeman. Many anime fans have been questioning why the company was still doing business with the actor leading up to his conviction back in September of 2015, while actor Vic Mignogna was essentially blacklisted based on unsubstantiated allegations.
Australian outfit SausageRoll did a compilation article of some of Funimation’s most recent screw-ups, including the various localization changes to anime that resulted in fans becoming absolutely incensed, with the most recent transgressions including Nekopara and Bofuri.
However, the most egregious of Funimation’s crimes – in the eyes of the anime community – is that they didn’t immediately break ties with Freeman after he was charged for possessing child porn.
According to Bounding Into Comics, Freeman was originally arrested back in April of 2014 on eight counts of possessing child pornography. His ongoing voice acting duties were recast following his arrest, which included his parts in High School DXD, Fairy Tail and One Piece. However, Funimation didn’t immediately fire Freeman.
According to Bounding Into Comics, Freeman was still featured in roles up through 2015, including anime such as Kasisama Kiss 2, Tokyo Ghoul Root A, Assassination Classroom and The Rolling Girls.
Way back on September 6th, 2015, Anime News Network actually questioned Funimation about their continued employ of Freeman following his arrest, and the company claimed that they were unaware of Freeman’s charges until May, 2015, saying…
“In May of 2015, FUNimation became aware of the legal matter involving Scott Freeman, at which time we suspended our relationship with Scott. In the wake of recent news, we have permanently ended the relationship. Any other questions should be directed to Scott Freeman directly.”
So despite Freeman having been arrested a year prior for possessing child pornography, and some of his roles being recast due to the arrest, he continued to work for Funimation, albeit in smaller roles, up through 2015.
Vic Mignogna, alternatively, was blacklisted from Funimation weeks after unsubstantiated allegations were made against the actor, even though no police reports were filed and no evidence of malfeasance ever surfaced.
Some fans have called out Funimation for their hypocrisy on the matter, which is why the topic has resurfaced in the news lately. Others claimed that Funimation was a lot more lax back then. Since the Freeman incident occurred before Sony took charge of Funimation back in July of 2017, some of Funimation’s defenders claim that’s why the two situations were handled differently.
(Thanks for the news tip Anti-SJW Hedgehog)