Released in September of 2020, Genshin Impact has become a critically acclaimed free-to-play, open world role playing game. Complete with hundreds of quests, an array of collectable characters and immaculate voice acting, it is no wonder how Genshin Impact became a multi-million dollar game.
One of the main draws for many to the game is the ability to gamble for attractive characters, all of whom have different abilities tied to an element. And with HoyoVerse, Genshin Impact’s company, consistently producing new characters, they also need to find voice actors to portray their creations.
Enter in: Tighnari (pronounced Tie-nar-ee). Released in August of 2022, he was a well beloved character as he was the first character to be released for a new element, one fans had been waiting for almost 2 years. Tighnari was voiced by Elliot Ghindi, a voice actor who had only one other notable accreditation in 2020. Needless to say, he was very new to the world of voice acting and Genshin Impact was a ginormous big break.
It was in February of 2023 when Ghindi’s reputation, and career, were thrown into the garbage by his disgusting actions. It was revealed by one of his social media moderators that Ghindi had been having sexual misconduct (grooming, coercion, and sexual assault) with minors that looked up to him.
Elliot Ghindi, 25, was accused by approximately 20 victims of him attempting to solicit sexual favors and nudes from minors, all of whom were fans of the game and/or his character. In the aftermath of the accusations, Ghindi initially apologized, confirming some claims and denying others. However, it was revealed that he was making burner accounts on Twitter in an attempt to silence victims and dissuade any more individuals from coming out.
Thankfully, HoyoVerse reacted quickly and fired Ghindi only 8 days after the allegations surfaced. Most recently, as of April 11th, his voice acting work was also completely removed from the game, being replaced with the voice of Zacary Gordon, most known for his role as Greg Heffley in Diary of a Wimpy Kid.
Sometimes it seems pointless and sometimes wrong to fire people for the actions of their past in today’s view of canceled culture. But there do exist cases in canceled culture where there is an explicit abuse of power. This is one of those examples where there is an explicit abuse of power. There are a lot of voice actors out there and I am glad that they have a voice actor for that character that doesn’t commit sexual harassment. But then again, I have never played this game and probably never will so do I really know what’s going on? Probably not. I wonder what a fan of Genshin Impact thinks of this move.