Renowned voice actor Jennifer Hale, known for her role as Commander Shepard in Mass effectt series and the new voice action character Bayonetta, released a statement in response to the following discourse BayonetThe former voice actress claims she was not offered a salary by PlatinumGames to reprise her role as the Witch of Umbran.
Over the weekend, Helena Taylor, the original voice actor for PlatinumGames’ stylish hack and slash series, Bayonet, upload four videos to her official Twitter account, claiming that PlatinumGames had offered her an “outrageous” fixed price of $4,000 to reprise her role as Bayonetta. it should be noted that Bayonet 3 also features an entire coven of Bayonettas from alternate timelines that Taylor should also be asked to write lines for. In the videos, Taylor asked fans to boycott the game and donate their money to charity instead.
Read more: Original Bayonetta Voice Actress: ‘I’m Urging People To Boycott This Game’ Over ‘Offensive’ Pay Offer
Before Taylor spoke, PlatinumGames said Game Informer that Taylor’s switch to Hale was due to “various overlapping circumstances,” which made it “difficult” for Taylor to play Bayonet one more time. Taylor says she wrote to Hideki Kamiya, the game’s executive director, to agree to her case when PlatinumGames sent her the “immoral” offer to do all of her work on the game for just $4,000.
In his tweets, Taylor mentioned that he was violating his NDA agreement with PlatinumGames by speaking out. After the suicidal thoughts, depression and anxiety she experienced during a period of little work, Taylor said she had nothing to lose.
“I’m not afraid of the non-disclosure agreement. I can’t even afford to drive a car. What are they going to do, take my clothes? Good luck to them,” Taylor said in a tweet.
Today, Hale turned to Bayonet controversy in a tweet.
“I am under NDA and am not allowed to talk about this situation. My reputation speaks for itself,” Hale wrote. “I sincerely ask everyone to keep in mind that this game was created by a whole team of hard-working, dedicated people, and I hope everyone will keep an open mind about what they’ve created.”
As a longtime member of the voice acting community, Hale said she believes in “every actor’s right to be well paid,” affirmed her “great respect” for her peers, and mentioned the years of advocacy she has undertaken in the field.
“Finally, I hope that everyone involved can resolve their differences in an amicable and respectful manner,” she said.
my boxhas reached out to Hale and Taylor for comment.
Prior to Hale’s post, fellow actor Yong Yea tweeted about the high possibility that Hale was unaware of Taylor’s situation with Platinum before taking on the role of Bayonetta. Yea’s tweet included screenshots of tweets Hale likes suggesting that NDAs are preventing her from fully weighing in.
“Direct your frustration at companies and decision makers,” Yea wrote.
Read more: Bayonet 3 It’s coming out in October and has a mod to make the game less sexy
As fans battled over whether to go along with Taylor’s wishes for a boycott, it came Bayonet 3release, PlatinumGames’ Kamiya had his own Twitter account temporarily deleted and suspended after mass blocking people who questioned him about Taylor’s claim. Now he’s back, but he’s locked his account so no one can reply to his tweets.
Bayonet 3 is scheduled to release on October 28th on the Nintendo Switch.