It had been several months since I had posted and thought about the Vic Mignogna defamation lawsuit, and the only thing which has surprised me about it is that we got through the entire summer convention season without a major show getting shut down over the dispute.
In 2020, I don't think anyone's going to be so lucky.
Where we apparently stand now: A September 8 hearing has been called to dismiss the suit on anti-SLAPP situations, that you can't just frivolously sue someone to silence them.
Should the defendants win that, they win the suit.
A number of years ago, I gave up on the anime fandom, largely, because of the fact that piracy was such a requirement to be a fan. I was still, however, a fan of the voice talents...
No more.
The more I'm finding out, the more I'm beginning to believe the result of this lawsuit and the extent of Vic Mignogna's predation are inextricably linked.
I used to attend conventions simply because of Vic -- the #1 voice talent in the entire industry. And, the last several years I attended cons of his, he had a SMOKING-HOT fiancee, Michele Specht. But, the longer it went, the more I began to ask why they weren't married.
Here's your answer. A scathing two-page March 2019 lambasting of Mignogna, and much of the culture surrounding him, by now ex-fiancee Specht.
It's difficult to read, in more ways than one. But it basically puts Specht in the cross-hairs, should Vic win his lawsuit (now with apparent seven-figure damages) against his former employer, two female voice-talents, and a fourth person. This is a woman who was represented to God And Everybody as his future wife -- for quite a number of years. She had attended several conventions in which Vic is alleged to misconduct (including at least one, and probably more, I attended as well!!).
But Specht's charges are myriad, and go far beyond just Mignogna.
- She alleges both ties within the anime industry and other ties to Mignogna's web series, Star Trek Continues, who served as go-betweens and wingmen to get Mignogna attendees for sex at a number of different conventions -- she calling them "convention fucks".
- Basically alleging that Vic would get into a sexual tryst with anyone he could find at these events, even though outwardly representing himself as a pious Christian man to the attendees at large.
- Alleging that not many, if any, of the sexual encounters (both apparently vaginal and oral were mentioned in the letter) were with the use of condoms.
- Alleging multiple affairs during the engagement.
- Alleges at least one underage sexual tryst with a convention cosplayer who has come forward to her.
The problem with this situation, for Mignogna, is that there is now no way he loses the lawsuit and does not get someone, somewhere in this swath he would have carved (if even a remote fraction of this is true) to correctly accuse him of nothing short of rape.
The problem with that is, if he wins, it probably changes the landscape forever. The accusing voice talents are probably done with the industry -- win, lose, or draw -- if this all becomes public. People who oppose Vic would probably have to leave the fandom, or face serious repercussions (in extreme cases, including legal ones!).
If he loses, he probably takes the rest of the organized American industry with him, because people are going to call his former employer and basically any convention a credible case can be found against on the carpet -- and their overheads, especially the latter, can't be that high.
How many communities, down to and including the school events, are not going to want to have anything to do with this kind of fandom, especially if this becomes full public record in a trial? I can tell you from being at any number of these events -- the "no rules" culture which begat "Cosplay is Not Consent" remains a major draw to the anime fandom in the United States. There was at least one convention earlier this year where it is believed that the water at the rave dance was spiked with a date rape drug, as just ONE example.
I've said for years that a full reckoning of what really goes on ends this industry. That day of reckoning is probably drawing nearer and nearer. Because either this goes to trial and the full light of day is produced on a lot of this harassive behavior at cons (and probably, as Specht alleges, far more than Mignogna!!), and/or everybody should be asking questions of just about every meaningful part of the anime industry in this country how it could've gone on so blatantly and so long...
Stay tuned.
