Tighnari’s voice actor may be removed from Genshin Impact after sexual misconduct allegations
Update (Feb. 16, 2023): HoYoverse has officially announced that Elliot Gindi will be replaced completely. Read the full story.
Original (Feb. 10, 2023): Voice actor Elliot Gindi, who plays the English version of Genshin Impact character Tighnari, has admitted to sexual misconduct with some of his fans. He apologized for his behavior after some details of these events were posted to Twitter by one of his Discord mods, who collected victim statements in a Google document.
They accused Gindi of being a “transphobe”, a “groomer”, and an “emotional abuser” among other things, several of which are backed up by the provided evidence as well as new evidence brought up by victims that came forward after the allegations were made public.
The screenshots prove that Gindi sought and had personal relationships with several of his fans, requested and received explicit material from them, and threatened suicide to keep conversations from getting made public.
Gindi admitted to the authenticity of the screenshots in his statement: “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.”
However, he categorically denies that he ever knowingly had any sexual conduct with minors or that behaved in a transphobic manner: “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.”
Genshin Impact’s publisher HoYoverse responded to media requests for a comment with the following statement: “We deeply regret the harm and damage that happened to our fans, gamers, community and anyone affected. “Both our internal teams and external partners including our voice acting studio have been working together on an urgent solution. And we will keep you posted on the progress.”
Several fellow Genshin Impact voice actors condemned Gindi in public, cutting off any association with him in response to the allegations, including Erika Harlacher-Stone (Venti), Jenny Yokobori (Yoimiya), Ashely Biski (Layla), Brianne Knickerbocker (Hu Tao), and many more.
Aether’s voice actor, Zach Aguilar, was among the first to react:
The Genshin Impact community at large seems to favor removing Elliot Gindi from the game in the future, voicing its support for the victims.
