Capcom hired a white dude who pretends to be black and says nigga to voice Morrison in DMCV. YT channel full of transphobia, racism, and antisemitism

[Pargon]

I was ready to ask why it is that many game developers seem to have this blind spot, and don't understand that it's important to cast PoC actors for their PoC characters, but this is something else.
Glad that I have not picked up DMC5 yet with this, and the other issues people have pointed out in this thread.

About Black face stuff not being super offeinsive in Japan, its not Japan only thing. Let me introduce you to Netherland's (one of the countries that puts value of race and gender rights in high regard) christmas character Black Pete, google for yourself.

Plus black face is not something is super offensive outside of america and europe, for example central asia, like we were not exposed to the whole issue that surrounds it, I know if somebody in my country do black face he will be just seen a bit weird than rude or offensive. Obviously young generation with social media exposure now understand the some idea of it but still its not something that railed up abou in common envieroment.

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It may not be intended as malicious or hurtful to the same degree that it is in America, but it certainly is offensive.

 

[CO_Andy]

i've thought about playing my first DMC but i'm gonna pass now

 

[cvxfreak]

There's an interview where one of the developers specifically stated that fear of backlash was the direct result of Sheva being created. They would never have a black protagonist by himself so they made the game two players.

What other game have you ever heard of a main playable character being replaced on the front cover and promotion material?

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Can you link to this interview? Sheva was actually created early on in RE5's development before the E3 2007 trailer was revealed, and I've seen conceptual documents that allude to her that were created before the trailer as well.

 

[AgentLampshade]

*turns alt style announcers off*

 

[newmoneytrash]

this is really, really bad

 

[Akainu]

in my country there is no racism between white and black

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What country is this?

 

[Deleted member 364]

There's an interview where one of the developers specifically stated that fear of backlash was the direct result of Sheva being created. They would never have a black protagonist by himself so they made the game two players.

What other game have you ever heard of a main playable character being replaced on the front cover and promotion material?

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It's possible they feared a backlash. Forum dwellers and social media would likely have twisted the game into being racist because it starred a white character who's shooting black "zombies". So yeah they made the right call.

And again, Re5 gold's selling point was the dlc starring jill and Chris, why wouldn't they be what's promoted. They're also fan favourites, unlike sheva.

 

[newmoneytrash]

The OP is misleading, no one says the N word in the actual game. What the OP is saying is that the VA for a character in DMC5 has been known to say the N word while being "in character" as being black even though he himself is white in stuff unrelated to DMC5.

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Oh, that is misleading. Not that this excuses anything, but the OP is confusing

 

[Swab]

holy shit this is awful.. REALLY wish this was shared before the game came out... YIKES

 

[TaleSpun]

I thought it was the guy who voiced Jet in the Bebop dub... Holy shit...

 

[Skittles]

Oh, that is misleading. Not that this excuses anything, but the OP is confusing

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Actually, some mod changed the title for some reason. original title was "Wait, capcom hired a white dude who pretends to be black and says nigga to voice Morrison in DMCV?". Which was proper english due to the "who" acting as a relative pronoun, now the new title doesn't make any sense based on the OP. This new title now reads as Morrison being the one to say nigga, instead of a VA. good job mods

 

[hussien-11]

Sorry. But you are not informed enough on this topic for your opinion to have much weight.

When you just say stuff like the "most characters are white" completely without context or understanding that this is part of the problem as well, it just shows you honestly haven't thought this through.

Also, colorism is a problem basically all over the world. I'm confident in saying your home country is not immune.

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No, i was saying that I don't see a problem with white or black actor voicing a character of different color and I don't think that this means that one color is "superior" to the other by itself, and i responded about the point of employment. i didn't say there is no problem or anything like that, because there are a lot of problems regarding the issue of color.

Literally every country says this until confronted by actual race issues. Yes even the United States, people said this and were proven wrong.

How many black presidents does your country have? Just curious

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The system of Government is constitutional monarchy here. also, the percentage of black people is not big. there are issues everywhere, but i think they are more extreme at some countries compared to others.
but i think people should be chosen based on their qualifications, not their color, right? the current prime minister here holds a PhD from Harvard in planning. i think he is a great choice regardless of his color.

What country is this?

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you can check my profile, but I was wrong to generalize i think, certainly there are issues and things can be improved.

 

[King_Moc]

This is basically peak Japan.

 

[duckroll]

but i think people should be chosen based on their qualifications, not their color, right?

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The qualification of representing a character of a certain ethnicity increases when the actor actually shares that ethnicity. Ain't no such thing as a white man having a PhD in being black. Lol.

 

[F2BBm3ga]

Why the fuck would they hire this dude for this role. First of all hes white. Hes obviously racist af. Thirdly, like, hes not even fucking relevant? Or has he done alot of work in games? Like I dont get it. Who the fuck greenlit this dude

 

[TaleSpun]

This is basically peak Japan.

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Racist response to a story about racism. Cool.

 

[Wing Scarab]

As much I loved DMC series, I regret buying the game now. It's sad that the only damn black person in the game, they went and hired a white person to do his fucking voice. And the white person they hired is racist as fuck judging by his videos. Really disappointed about that shit. WTF

 

[duckroll]

Why the fuck would they hire this dude for this role. First of all hes white. Hes obviously racist af. Thirdly, like, hes not even fucking relevant? Or has he done alot of work in games? Like I dont get it. Who the fuck greenlit this dude

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Maybe he was so good at pretending to be black that even Capcom was fooled!!!!!!!!!

 

[Brinbe]

That's fucking abysmal... You've soured DMC for a whole lot of people with this, and with good reason. Do better, Capcom. Seriously.

 

[King_Moc]

Racist response to a story about racism. Cool.

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They're absolutely terrible at doing black representation. But whatever.

 

[hussien-11]

The qualification of representing a character of a certain ethnicity increases when the actor actually shares that ethnicity. Ain't no such thing as a white man having a PhD in being black. Lol.

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You can also say that about female actresses voicing male characters, or mature people voicing young characters, etc. yet those happen all the time. sometimes they fit, sometimes not. but i didn't play DMCV so i don't know if he did a good job or not.

 

[Akainu]

I thought it was the guy who voiced Jet in the Bebop dub... Holy shit...

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eh they sound nothing alike.

 

[AdversaryOne]

Can you link to this interview? Sheva was actually created early on in RE5's development before the E3 2007 trailer was revealed, and I've seen conceptual documents that allude to her that were created before the trailer as well.

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Takeuchi said he believes previous criticism would have been avoided if it had been explained that Redfield is on a mission to help the African country and that he was partnered with an African woman named Sheva Alomar who is based in the region.

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https://www.sbsun.com/2009/03/06/producer-says-resident-evil-5-game-not-racist/

It's been over a decade so this is the closest thing I can find to the interview.

 

[TaleSpun]

They're absolutely terrible at doing black representation. But whatever.

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No, it's a racist as fuck generalization and even dumber in this specific instance, when you have so many western people working on the game. Including one of the producers.

It's a really unfortunate oversight; it has nothing to do with being Japanese.

 

[Pingal Pratyush]

I drafted an article regarding the issue. PM me, I'll send it to you. Feedback appreciated.

 

[Boiled Goose]

No, i was saying that I don't see a problem with white or black actor voicing a character of different color and I don't think that this means that one color is "superior" to the other by itself, and i responded about the point of employment. i didn't say there is no problem or anything like that, because there are a lot of problems regarding the issue of color.



The system of Government is constitutional monarchy here. also, the percentage of black people is not big. there are issues everywhere, but i think they are more extreme at some countries compared to others.
but i think people should be chosen based on their qualifications, not their color, right? the current prime minister here holds a PhD from Harvard in planning. i think he is a great choice regardless of his color.




you can check my profile, but I was wrong to generalize i think, certainly there are issues and things can be improved.

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You completely missed my point. You are not well versed at all in issues of race. Meritocracies don't exist. Constitutional monarchy is intrinsically a supremacist system. If you think the prime minister was chosen based on qualifications alone then ho boy. You have even more work to do. Take some social science courses on critical race theory.

 

[cvxfreak]

https://www.sbsun.com/2009/03/06/producer-says-resident-evil-5-game-not-racist/

It's been over a decade so this is the closest thing I can find to the interview.

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Yeah, that's not proof they came up with Sheva specifically to address the backlash they received after E3 2007. She was always part of the game's concept and an essential part of the plot for authenticity.

The game takes place in Africa and features an African co-protagonist. That's not a stretch in any way to find an excuse to be more inclusive.

 

[Cryptosporidium]

Isnt it possible no one at capcom even met this dude?

I mean hiring agency, hear some tapes, give the go ahead, and he records some lines?

Did they do mocap for him and everything because morrison appears like 3 times for a total of maybe 5 minutes so I wouldn't be surprised if the VA for him was handled differently

Shouldve gotten Rodins VA, now that dude woulda been good. Or the black cop VA from RE2. Both solid VAs

 

[Wing Scarab]

You can also say that about female actresses voicing male characters, or mature people voicing young characters, etc. yet those happen all the time. sometimes they fit, sometimes not. but i didn't play DMCV so i don't know if he did a good job or not.

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But yet they are white people voicing a white character. I see what point you are trying to make, but its not the same situation here. I mean even Platinum went and hired a black person to voice Rodin and yet Capcom couldn't.

 

[duckroll]

You can also say that about female actresses voicing male characters, or mature people voicing young characters, etc. yet those happen all the time. sometimes they fit, sometimes not. but i didn't play DMCV so i don't know if he did a good job or not.

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What's next? Able bodied people playing disabled characters? Sure these things happens because there's actual difficulty getting adult male actors who sound like boys, and there's a limited pool of child actors especially in voice acting. Are you suggesting there's so much difficulty getting a black voice actor for a role like Morrison? Don't make me laugh. They weren't even looking.

 

[Lukemia SL]

Why the fuck would they hire this dude for this role. First of all hes white. Hes obviously racist af. Thirdly, like, hes not even fucking relevant? Or has he done alot of work in games? Like I dont get it. Who the fuck greenlit this dude

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I'd checked his filmography beforehand and yeah he has done quite a lot of games, Asura's Wrath, Everquest, Guild Wars, Saint's Row, Sam & Max. He's like the Additional Voices type guy. He's done some movies too, same mini role type deals.

 

[newmoneytrash]

but i think people should be chosen based on their qualifications, not their color, right?

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when casting a black character being white makes you *extremely* unqualified

 

[Haze]

Jesus fucking Christ Capcom

 

[Cabbagehead]

Of course

 

[Deleted member 2652]

just find out if he does coke

 

[Lukemia SL]

Isnt it possible no one at capcom even met this dude?

I mean hiring agency, hear some tapes, give the go ahead, and he records some lines?

Did they do mocap for him and everything because morrison appears like 3 times for a total of maybe 5 minutes so I wouldn't be surprised if the VA for him was handled differently

Shouldve gotten Rodins VA, now that dude woulda been good. Or the black cop VA from RE2. Both solid VAs

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Here is the mocap session for his main scene

 

[duckroll]

Did they do mocap for him and everything because morrison appears like 3 times for a total of maybe 5 minutes so I wouldn't be surprised if the VA for him was handled differently

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Yes they did facial capture and motion capture for Morrison. His motion actor is Dan Southworth (looks white) and his facial capture actor is Antony Fitzgerald (he's black). The voice direction was handled in the US by Wendee Lee, Liam O'Brien, and Stephanie Sheh. All veteran voice actors in their own right and well known in the industry. So the idea that no one knew he was white doesn't fly lol.

 

[Freddo]

You can also say that about female actresses voicing male characters, or mature people voicing young characters, etc. yet those happen all the time. sometimes they fit, sometimes not. but i didn't play DMCV so i don't know if he did a good job or not.

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Indeed. Or when black people voice white characters, like Kratos in God of War.

Not that I would expect anything better from Era, this is not actually a forum for discussing games, it's a place to get blindly raged and spread uninformed hate.

 

[Cryptosporidium]

Here he is in Mocap.

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Well shit, dafuq capcom.

At least this shitbag is basically none existent in the game

Edit: so mocap is a different guy, facial is another guy, and then several ppl worked with the actual VA

Thats a hella lotta ppl for just Morrison lmao

 

[Lukemia SL]

Indeed. Or when black people voice white characters, like Kratos in God of War.

Not that I would expect anything better from Era, this is not actually a forum for discussing games, it's a place to get blindly raged and spread uninformed hate.

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Tell me which part of Kratos is white.

Well shit, dafuq capcom.

At least this shitbag is basically none existent in the game

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Actually I'm not sure that is him doing tbe mocap, see Duckroll's post.

 

[Reanimatoin]

Well shit, dafuq capcom.

At least this shitbag is basically none existent in the game

Edit: so mocap is a different guy, facial is another guy, and then several ppl worked with the actual VA

Thats a hella lotta ppl for just Morrison lmao

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That's Dan Southworth, aka Vergil, doing the mocap

 

[duckroll]

That's Dan Southworth, aka Vergil, doing the mocap

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Oh he does Vergil? I guess that explains it, there's doubling up in motion capture when the character isn't important enough to cast someone specifically. So for motion capture Nico does Trish too.

This is more understandable than hiring a racist twat to voice the character.

 

[Skittles]

Well shit, dafuq capcom.

At least this shitbag is basically none existent in the game

Edit: so mocap is a different guy, facial is another guy, and then several ppl worked with the actual VA

Thats a hella lotta ppl for just Morrison lmao

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Tis the cost of doing mocap and having it look good. As most actors aren't in the shape required for a lot of mocap

That's Dan Southworth, aka Vergil, doing the mocap

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doesn't surprise me given his huge background as a stunt man.

 

[Pingal Pratyush]

Guys, I did an article. https://www.spieltimes.com/news/cap...te-actor-to-play-morrison-in-devil-may-cry-5/ Do let me know if I'm missing something and if I should add more stuff. PMs are open!

 

[Deleted member 419]

Actually, some mod changed the title for some reason. original title was "Wait, capcom hired a white dude who pretends to be black and says nigga to voice Morrison in DMCV?". Which was proper english due to the "who" acting as a relative pronoun, now the new title doesn't make any sense based on the OP. This new title now reads as Morrison being the one to say nigga, instead of a VA. good job mods

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The problem with both your title and with the mod-edited title is that the present tense of "pretends to be black and says the n-word" implies a relationship between the present activity of voicing Morrison in DMCV and the saying of the word.

The title should read "Wait, capcom hired a white dude who has pretended to be black and said the N-word to voice Morrison in DMCV?"

And to be honest I also object to "nigga" being in the title because this is a white racist fuck saying the n-word and it's very much a slur in this context and should be censored in the title as such.

EDIT: The only reason I care enough about the specific title to comment on it is because as terrible as this situation is, there's a distinction between hiring a racist (most likely without prior knowledge, but that's just supposition at this point) and hiring a racist white person who then uses the N-word in the dialogue you gave them to say. They're both very bad looks but in my mind one of them is quite a bit worse.

 

[Datajoy]

Why the fuck would they hire this dude for this role. First of all hes white. Hes obviously racist af. Thirdly, like, hes not even fucking relevant? Or has he done alot of work in games? Like I dont get it. Who the fuck greenlit this dude

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This is what I keep wondering. How the fuck did this ever even happen.

 

[Kathartic]

From my understanding, they hired an actor to act.
What's the problem?

 

[TaleSpun]

Isnt it possible no one at capcom even met this dude?

I mean hiring agency, hear some tapes, give the go ahead, and he records some lines?

Did they do mocap for him and everything because morrison appears like 3 times for a total of maybe 5 minutes so I wouldn't be surprised if the VA for him was handled differently

Shouldve gotten Rodins VA, now that dude woulda been good. Or the black cop VA from RE2. Both solid VAs

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Whoever did the casting should've made sure they were using an actual black actor and Capcom should've triple checked that that was the case.

 

[Lukemia SL]

From my understanding, they hired an actor to act.
What's the problem?

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Read the OP.

 

[AdversaryOne]

Yeah, that's not proof they came up with Sheva specifically to address the backlash they received after E3 2007. She was always part of the game's concept and an essential part of the plot for authenticity.

The game takes place in Africa and features an African co-protagonist. That's not a stretch in any way to find an excuse to be more inclusive.

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I think it is.

But that's my whole point. Japanese devs seem to need an excuse to be inclusive. Or in RE5's case, use inclusivity as a solution to possible backlash. That's not the way it is supposed to be. RE6 has six protagonists who are all white in a Japanese made game. Soul Calibur has had one black character in 25 years and 50 characters later. Barrett is the only black person in the entire world of Final Fantasy 7. The guy with the chocobo in his afro (and his son) is the only one in the entire world of Final Fantasy XIII. You'll never find a Japanese made game with more than 2 black characters in one game unless it's a fighting game (up to 4 max) and even then they'll most likely be big and dumb if they're male. Half the SFV cast is white but watch any WSO (winner stays on "UK events") or fighting game tournament and at least half of the non-asian competitors are black. These are just a few examples.

I'm going on a tangent with this and I'm not saying western countries are tons better (but they are better) but seeing this track record, this pattern, going back as far as Tom Sawyer from Square Enix over 30 years ago, nothing I hear about a game made from a Japanese company regarding the mistreatment or misrepresentation of a black character surprises me in the slightest. That's all I'm saying.