Chris Sabat, best known for providing the voice of Vegeta in the Dragon Ball franchise, recently responded to a fan on Twitter who questioned the veteran voice actor about his role in the firing of Dragon Ball Super: Broly voice actor Vic Mignogna.
He also responded to allegations that he edited voice acting recordings from fellow Dragon Ball voice actor Colleen Clinkenbeard into a pornographic parody.
On April 10th, Comicbook.com hosted a ‘Quarantine Watch Party,’ inviting fans to a livesteam of the Dragon Ball Super: Broly film with commentary being live-tweeted by film stars Sean Schemmel (Goku), Sonny Strait (Bardock), Christopher Ayres (Frieza), and Sabat:
Tomorrow night, whip out your copy of #DragonballSuperBroly and press play at 8pm Central for @ComicBook’s next #QuarantineWatchParty!
Come hang with me, @SeanSchemmel (Goku) @sonnystrait (Bardock), @Chrisayresva (Frieda) and other cast members as we live-tweet and Q&A! pic.twitter.com/hk5yPa0TVO
— Christopher Sabat (@JustChrisSabat) April 10, 2020
During the scene where Broly interacts with Frieza, Cheelai, and Leemo for the first time upon on Frieza’s ship, Sabat commented that the soft-spoken and quiet Broly had only “10 lines in the whole film,” stating that it was at least better than the character “just screaming KAKAROOOOOTT all the time.”
And here most of Broly’s 10 lines in the whole film. Well, I guess at least he *has* lines instead of just screaming KAKAROOOOOTT all the time. #QuarantineWatchParty #Broly
— Christopher Sabat (@JustChrisSabat) April 11, 2020
A day after the film’s streaming, a fan appeared to interpret Sabat’s commentary as an attack on Mignogna:
Was this supposed to be some kinda joke. Cuz the only joke I see is you right now.
— SprBronySparkle97 🌐 (@SprBronySparkle) April 12, 2020
You really disappoint the hell out of me Sabat.
— SprBronySparkle97 🌐 (@SprBronySparkle) April 12, 2020
Sabat explained that the comment was made in reference to Broly’s very limited vocabulary, as his diaglogue in original appearances in Dragon Ball Z: Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan, Dragon Ball Z: Broly – Second Coming, and Dragon Ball Z: Bio-Broly, consisted mainly of screaming and grunting, before facetiously asking the fan to “feel free to apologize.”
Umm, I’m sorry allow me to explain…
You see, Broly had around 10 lines in the film which is approximately 9 more lines than he’s had in the other films and video games combined, where he only screamed “Kakarot” again and again. Get it now? Nice! Feel free to apologize. 😉— Christopher Sabat (@JustChrisSabat) April 13, 2020
This response elicited more criticism from Mignogna supporters, to which Sabat noted that he “didn’t do anything to Vic” and that said supporters “really need to stop with the wild conspiracy theories.”
Crazy how you give Broly so much hate despite both Broly (both versions) and his VA (both VAs) are stronger, better, more respected, and less dickheads than you and Vegeta. Crazy how you’re this bold after all the lies and bullshit pulled on Vic and tried to do with Johnny.
— That’s OUR Girl (@Ducketh1) April 13, 2020
Whoa. you’re pretty confused. I didn’t do anything to Vic. He got himself fired. I didn’t do that. And by the way I’m great friend with Johnny.
— Christopher Sabat (@JustChrisSabat) April 13, 2020
Got himself fired? sure bud keep telling all your crazy devoted fans since they believe your word and instead of investigating the situation themselves and seeing how all of you planned this out, all of you who got vic fired were really good friends a day before this outcry sad😞
— SawamuraSZN⚾AdvanceToKoshien (@ShineKing12) April 13, 2020
That’s ridiculous. You really need to stop with the wild conspiracy theories.
— Christopher Sabat (@JustChrisSabat) April 13, 2020
A fan then brought up a story told by Young Gohan and Goku (GT) voice actress Colleen Clinkenbeard at the Anime Festival Orlando 2009.
In the video Clinkenbeard discussed a “humiliating” moment where Sabat took clips of her recorded audio for Kiddy Grade and edited them together “so it sounded like I was making a porn.”
Chris you’re a phenomenal VA, best in the world imo, and you literally didn’t do anything wrong people hating on you for no reason man
— Lecidious (@lecidious) April 13, 2020
No reason? Look how he treats people like Colleen Clinkcenbeard. (23:18) https://t.co/JLq7DsWMFE
— Da Docta (@docta_da) April 13, 2020
As mentioned in the above tweet, Clinkenbeard’s story can be heard at the 23:18 mark in the video below:
Here’s the transcription:
“Fan: Do weird things ever just happen when y’all get bored at Funimation? Or something?
Clinkenbeard: Sure.
Fan: Any stories we can hear?
Clinkenbeard: Yeah. When we get bored at Funimation. Let’s see. We do a lot of scaring each other. The engineers, when they get bored at Funimation, they take things that we have done, sounds that we’ve made, lines that we’ve said, hours of outtakes that we have, and make raps of them. One of the first experiences I had of that was, I had done some fighting reactions for Kiddy Grade and my engineer took them all- or was this Chris Sabat? It might have been Chris, who did this. I think it was Chris-took them all, totally something he would do, put them together, and then put porn music behind the track and then put the sound of bedsprings behind it so it sounded like I was making a porn. And then in the end he included that I had said in the show, something like “I’m outta here” or something like that. So, one of my very first experiences at Funimation was a *little* humiliating.”
In his defense, Sabat then proclaimed that Clinkenbeard “has a crappy memory like many of us when we’re put on the spot at a con” and denied being involved with the edited audio clips.
He explained that Clinkenbeard “later told me she remembered that it was one of the engineers” mentioned in her story at Anime Festival Orlando:
Let’s address this. First off, Colleen has a crappy memory like many of us when we’re put on the spot at a con trying to be fun and tell stories. I never did that to her and Colleen (a close friend btw) later told me she remembered that it was one of the engineers.
— Christopher Sabat (@JustChrisSabat) April 13, 2020
Dragon Ball and Vegeta Voice Actor Chris Sabat Responds to Allegations of Sexual Misconduct
When an affidavit filed by Chuck Huber, the voice of Android #17 in the Dragon Ball series, in Mignogna’s ongoing legal case which accused Sabat of sexually exploitative behavior in his role as an anime voice director, Sabat stated that “this message was debunked a long time ago” and that he had avoided discussing Mignogna at all during the movie’s livestream “to avoid people like you jumping in and slinging this kind of garbage.”
Remember Chuck Huber’s affidavit? He said anyone who fell out of their “friend group” would no longer be employed at Funimation (hence why people like Colleen more than likelyu afraid) AND several women were recasted from DBZKai for refusing advances on Sabat. pic.twitter.com/DP9xWSge7h
— Da Docta (@docta_da) April 13, 2020
Dude. This message was debunked a long time ago.
Look, I was INVITED to do a fun thing and watch a badass movie and the reason I *didn’t* talk about Vic (on this stream or EVER) was to avoid people like you jumping in and slinging this kind of garbage. Kindly go elsewhere.
— Christopher Sabat (@JustChrisSabat) April 13, 2020
As of writing, Sabat has offered no further comments on these criticisms.