Uh-Oh Wars!

Celebrities are routinely told to “not get political”. Ignoring how loaded and infantilizing that claim really is, because it’s almost always about their left-leaning political stances, it’s a popular claim that floats around many conservative, and even some liberal, circles. That said, sometimes celebrities do make claims or statements that are politically-charged, yet incredibly-ignorant. And nowhere is this more apparent than a recent controversy surrounding a voice actress and potential SCOTUS nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

I try to keep my stances on political figures off of The Whitly-Verse unless unavoidable, but it’s impossible to detach celebrity culture with political figures this time. For those not in the know, The Supreme Court of the United States, the highest court in the US, only has 9 seats max. Each time a seat becomes absent, be it due to a death or retirement, it’s up to the current president to choose a successor. And since SCOTUS picks are lifetime picks, the candidates are vetted by the senate.

Earlier this year, Justice Anthony Kennedy, who’d been serving as a SCOTUS judge since 1988, retired. This left his seat, known as the “swing seat”, open for replacement under Trump. Trump, ever the crafty devil, decided to pick Brett Kavanaugh, an extremely-conservative judge whose track-record was already questionable: ignoring his dodgy stance on Roe V. Wade, he had close to 200000 pages of records during Bush Jr.’s presidency that’d fallen into a black hole. That alone was enough to ruffle people’s feathers, but then we get the cherry on top in the form of a sex predator allegation from Dr. Christine Blasey Ford. According to Ford, Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her in high school at a party while drunk, failing at rape because she escaped in time.

Recent information that Kavanaugh may have successfully raped two other women while intoxicated, and possibly more, has also surfaced in the last while. Kavanaugh’s neither the first politician, judge or SCOTUS pick to be accused of sexually-inappropriate behaviour, but what makes this situation so difficult is how it’s being handled in the senate. There’s a lot to unpack here, but since it’d take too long, I’ll go straight to what everyone wants me to discuss: the voice actress controversy.

See, the first trailer for Star War Resistance, an anime series co-produced by Disney, was released this past week. Star Wars is always a conversation starter, but this particular trailer was marred by one of the voice actresses, Rachel Butera, deciding to mock Ford’s voice in a short video. She quickly took it down, but you can find everything you need to know about it right here. Regardless, her infantilizing remarks about Ford’s voice, which she called “vocal fry”, didn’t sit well with people. Some have even called for Butera to be fired.

To be clear, I don’t think an actor or actress saying something insensitive alone is grounds for dismissal, especially when they’ve openly apologized. During the press tour for The Avengers: Age of Ultron, Chris Evans insensitively called Black Widow’s character “a total whore”, to which he promptly apologized the next day. People aren’t perfect, and they sometimes say hurtful remarks. So long as they make amends, which Butera doesn’t seem to have done, I can let it slide. After all, I’d be a hypocrite if I didn’t.

The issue with Butera’s video is two-fold: first, Butera is representing a brand, that being Star Wars. Like Kazuyoshi Yaginuma and Roseanne Barr, there’s an expectation that comes with being involved in a collaborative effort, be it PR or having your name attached. Butera, by participating in a Star Wars project, has a responsibility to Star Wars fans. And some of those fans do, in fact, care that she’s being insensitive to an assault victim.

Second, Star Wars, contrary to what many male nerds will say, means a lot to young girls and women. Some of them are, inevitably, survivors of rape and sexual assault. Some of them, also, follow Butera on social media, as they want to keep up with the goings-on of their favourite celebrities. (Admit it, we’re all guilty of it.) By Butera openly deriding another woman, and a survivor of sexual assault, over vocal fry, it reinforces an image of survivors and their inability to be taken seriously. Why would you want that kind of controversy surrounding Star Wars?

I also consider it disrespectful of Princess Leia’s legacy in pop-culture. Ignoring what the character stands for, it spits in the face of the late-Carrie Fisher, a woman who was routinely subjected to the worst Hollywood has to offer before her death. Princess Leia, while not real, isn’t a role you take lightly or tarnish through such blatant and overt disrespect. Butera needs to understand that.

Besides, what’s wrong with sounding younger than you actually are? I’m currently 28 years-old, but I sound like I’m 15. Even by voice acting standards, Dante Basco, the voice of Prince Zuko, still sounds like he’s 15, and he’s a lot older than me! Implying that vocal fry is detrimental to being taken seriously only reinforces how disrespectful we are of those who don’t meet unrealistic standards of maturity. I know this all-too-well from personal experience.

Finally, Butera mocking Ford’s voice disrespects her credentials as a PhD and adds fuel to the pyre that is survivor’s guilt. Survivors of trauma already receive enough flak from the world for being survivors, and Dr. Ford’s no exception: she’s endured 36 years of humiliation, numerous therapy sessions, a polygraph test by The FBI and the realization that her attacker won’t only potentially preside over future cases like hers, but that the committee nominating him doesn’t believe the validity of her case. You’d figure that the Me Too aftermath would empower Ford more, but here we are!

So what now? The obvious solution would be to fire and replace Butera. It’s not like VAs haven’t been before, as evidenced by TJ Miller’s voice being retroactively dubbed over by a nobody in a Mucinex commercial following sexual misconduct allegations. Nor is it beyond Disney to fire people for tarnishing their image, be it justly (Roseanne Barr) or unjustly (James Gunn). It might be costly to find a replacement, but Disney has the money. Especially if they’ve recently purchased 20th Century Fox.

Look, I know this is but a minnow in relation to the bigger fish in the ocean. For all we know, Butera could see the error of her ways and make amends. But in the meantime, this is a blemish that won’t go away. Butera can’t pretend she did nothing wrong by deleting her original Tweet, and nor should she! She needs to realize that her actions have consequences, and sometimes they can be harsh. Particularly when mocking a victim of sexual assault!

So yes, celebrities can talk politics. But that also comes with a responsibility of not inflicting harm on the undeserving.