Vic Mignogna

In early 2019, following the English release of Dragon Ball Super: Broly, which prominently features Mignogna's vocal work, allegations of sexual harassment against him began to surface on Twitter via the MeToo movement, with some allegations dating back to when his career began in 1989.[1][34][35][36] Multiple accounts alleged that he kissed, groped, and made lewd homophobic comments to fans without their consent, some of whom were underage.[34][35][37] Voice actresses Monica Rial and Jamie Marchi tweeted their support for those speaking out, and alleged that he had also sexually harassed them.[1][36][38]

On January 22, 2019, Tammi Denbow, executive director of employee relations at Sony Pictures, opened an investigation based on reports made by Rial, two female fans, and a former Funimation employee, which concluded a week later with termination of his contract.[39] On February 5, Rooster Teeth severed their business relationship with him, and Funimation recast his role of the Executive in The Morose Mononokean.[40][41][42] Multiple anime conventions also removed him from their guest list.[37][43] In response to the controversy, Mignogna categorically denied any accusations of sexual harassment.[37][43]

Mignogna issued a statement of regret during his panel at Bak-Anime 2019 and again via Twitter on February 13, 2019.[44] Fans donated over $262,000 to a crowdfunding account opened by lawyer Nick Rekieta, who assisted Mignogna in acquiring Ty Beard as his attorney.[1][45] On February 20, Mignogna confirmed on Twitter that he was pursuing legal action,[46] and later filed a million-dollar lawsuit against Funimation, Rial, Marchi, and Ron Toye for defamation and tortious interference in the Tarrant County District Court.[47] Funimation filed a response on June 12, 2019, denying Mignogna's allegations.[48]

On June 26, Mignogna was deposed.[1] On July 1, 2019, Funimation filed an anti-SLAPP motion for Mignogna to dismiss his lawsuit.[49] Rial, Marchi, and Toye then filed anti-SLAPP motions on July 19,[50] with ten affidavits, including ones from Kara Edwards and Michele Specht,[7][1] as well as several allegations that he had also made unwanted advances towards Mari Iijima.[51] On July 30, another affidavit was submitted by the two fans from Funimation's investigation.[1]

On September 6, 2019, a judge dismissed seven of the twelve claims, ruling in the defendants' favor. Mignogna was required to pay all of Marchi's legal fees.[52][53] On October 4, 2019, the District Court announced the remaining claims had been dismissed.[54] Mignogna filed an appeal on October 24, with a hearing set for November 21.[55] The judge later ruled that Mignogna was required to pay for the defendants' attorney fees.[56]

In February 2021, in response to the allegations, Mignogna announced outside of Funimation, that he will not reprise his role as Rohan Kishibe, a character from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, in the anime adaptation of the spin-off of the Diamond Is Unbreakable arc, Thus Spoke Rohan Kishibe, and thanking his replacement Landon McDonald, wishing him the best.[57]

On August 18, 2022, the Texas Second Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of Mignogna's lawsuit and ruled that the District Court judge erred with regards to the lawyer's fees awarded to Rial and Toye, revising the initial amount up from $100,000 to $282,953.80 to account for additional costs.[58] Mignogna's appeal was denied in September 2022.[59] On November 14, 2022, Mignogna filed a petition for review in the Supreme Court of Texas, which was subsequently denied on December 30, 2022.[60][61]

Since then, his acting career has relatively stalled, though he remains active on social media and continues to attend fan conventions.

• If These Walls Could Talk (1992)
• Selah – Music for the Quiet Time (2004–2005)
• Metafiction (2006)
• Christmas (2008)
• Selah II (2009)
• Revix (2010) – a remix album of some of his earlier singles

• Gospel of John
• A Howl at the Moon (2014) – audiobook narrator[233]