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One cannot simply advocate for people engaging in a violent attack...and pretend that all is well and go on with your normal life.
Growing up, I always imagined what it would feel to live through a day of major historical importance. September 3, 1783. August 24, 1814. November 11, 1918. September 11, 2001. Days I have read about, studied, even vaguely remember in the case of the last, but have never lived. January 6, 2021 is now on that list.
Wednesday marks a disappointing day of infamy in the United States of America. A mob, incited and encouraged by the President of the United States, invaded, attacked, and seized the United States Capitol, in a futile and yet violent and shocking effort to usurp the authority of that countryâs election process to ensure that one man would be made President against the will of that election.[1] In addition to endangering the lives of hundreds of members of the United States Congress, their staffs, and the Capitol Police, these would-be insurrectionists vandalized the building and, with the continuing support of the President, have effectively damaged the reputation of the United States.
The events are quite serious in nature. Itâs in the context of this blatant attempt to usurp the established law and government of the United States that I call for the Walt Disney Company and Square Enix to remove Mr. Quinton Flynn as the official English voice actor for Lea/Axel in the Kingdom Hearts series. Mr. Flynn has engaged in behavior Wednesday, in relation to the events of the day, in support of these events and the would-be insurgents who seek to disrupt the legal election process.[2]
Mr. Flynn is surely no stranger to controversy of late. As many know, he already stands accused of sexual harassment and abuse. Should the allegations be true, he should be removed on those grounds alone. But Wednesday, Mr. Flynn has chosen to engage in behavior using his known official Twitter account that encourage, justify, or otherwise advocate for Wednesdayâs events in the United States. At the time of this writing, Mr. Flynn has liked one tweet which purports to shift the blame of Wednesdayâs events not on the man who incited the violence, or even the people who were there, actually breaking the windows and storming the building, but instead to a group of people the tweet claims, with no evidence, infiltrated the invasion.
Never mind that the argument is both unsupported and almost certainly false, based on how many of these invaders chose to advertise their support for the President on their own social media accounts. Never mind that four people needlessly died Wednesday as a result of these attacks, an avoidable tragedy regardless of where any of those four people stand on these events. The willful peddling of anything that seeks to support those who would overthrow the government is disgusting and unacceptable. One cannot simply advocate for people engaging in a violent attack and attempted usurpation of the U.S. government, of a political election process, and pretend that all is well and go on with your normal life. These people sought to overturn the results of a national election because they do not agree with the results. They and their supporters do not get the right to arise tomorrow as though nothing has changed.
And letâs not try to entertain arguments about the impact of removing the voice actor of such a major character. No actor or entertainerâs career, no matter how important to a given work it may be, is more important or more worth recognizing than that same personâs allegiance to such a disappointing and treacherous cause as the one carried out Wednesday. This series has been able to replace voice actors for characters, both minor and major, in the past. It twice has replaced the vice actor of its most well-known and recurring antagonist thus far. It can certainly find a suitable replacement for Mr. Flynn. His contribution thus far to the series cannot outweigh the message his online profile appears to advocate.
The correct response for The Walt Disney Company and Square Enix, and for all of us in the Kingdom Hearts community, is simple. In so much as he supports this kind of behavior and the people who espoused it Wednesday, Quinton Flynn must be removed from the project that is the Kingdom Hearts series. He must be removed from this community. So long as he continues to support or advocate for such people who would unlawfully usurp the authority of an election, he should not receive the support of this community, or its respect, or the platform of his job as the voice actor of one of the Kingdom Hearts seriesâ most well-known and beloved characters. Continuing to support a group of insurrectionists attempting to overthrow the United States government to force a man in power who has lost demands a loss of support and swift condemnation. There is no room for those who back such action, in this fandom or any other.
"..donât wait. Act. One of lifeâs little rules."