Voice actor Jonah Scott has been removed from the Chinese visual novel Mr Love: Queen's Choice over comments he made regarding Taiwan. Scott had referred to Taiwan as a country, a status the Chinese government refuses to acknowledge.
Why was Jonah Scott removed from Mr Love: Queen's Choice?
Scott's original comments came via Twitter a few days ago. The original tweet has been deleted, but Scott made reference to Taiwan being a country. Following this tweet, a post appeared on the official Facebook page for the game, announcing that Scott's statement contained "incorrect facts" and that his contract had been terminated. As well as Scott's dismissal, Mr Love developer Paper Games also confirmed Scott's lines would be removed from the game and re-recorded by a new voice actor. That post has also since been deleted, but you can see the text of it - along with a timeline of events - over on this Reddit thread.
After Scott's removal from Mr Love: Queen's Choice, several other members of the game's voice cast quit the project. Sean Chiplock and Joe Zieja both said they would no longer reprise their roles in the game "effective immediately", while actor Aleks Le removed a mention of Mr Love character Shaw from his Twitter bio. In addition, Darrel Delfin, who voices Iridescent in Mr Love, voiced his displeasure at the situation, calling the developer and publisher's stance "embarrassing" and saying Scott's dismissal "[makes him] sick".
What is the fallout from Jonah Scott's removal?
After Scott was removed from the game - and after his co-stars quit in solidarity - more changes were made to Mr Love: Queen's Choice. Earlier today, the voice lines for Victor, Gavin, and Kiro - the characters voiced by the members of the cast who have quit - were removed. Paper Games says it plans to replace these lines with new voice actors "in the future". This leaves Bill Rogers, who voices Lucien in Mr Love, as the only original cast member remaining. Rogers himself said that he needed "some time to meditate" and would be taking a break from posting on social media. At this time, the voice lines for Iridescent remain, despite Darrel Delfin's displeasure with the situation, indicating he has not quit at this time.
For his part, Scott tweeted an apology in which he said he didn't wish to "make divisive opinions on important political topics so brashly". Scott also apologized to his colleagues and partners. It's not clear whether this situation will affect the ongoing Mr Love: Queen's Choice anime adaptation, which uses the same voice actors for the characters that appear in the show. We've reached out to several of the people involved in this situation including publisher Elex, developer Paper Games, and the voice actors for Mr Love: Queen's Choice. We'll bring you more as soon as we get it.
What do you think of Jonah Scott's removal from Mr Love: Queen's Choice? Let us know in the comments below!
