The Genshin Impact devs have put out a response to the sexual misconduct allegations surrounding their anime game‘s English voice actor for Tighnari, Elliot Gindi. The voice actor has been accused of grooming, emotional abuse, blackmail, and having inappropriate relationships with fans, some of whom were allegedly underage at the time.
Please be aware that this article contains descriptions of alleged sexual violence, and references to suicide. Reader discretion is advised.
These accusations were raised on February 7, and both Gindi and HoYoverse have now put out responses to address the situation. The voice actor’s acknowledgment of his actions came first in the form of a TwitLonger. In his explanation, he admits to threatening to take his own life if his misconduct got exposed, but also denies knowingly having relations with anyone underage.
HoYoverse has now followed up with its statement in a reply to GamesRadar+, saying the following:
“We deeply regret the harm and damage that happened to our fans, gamers, community and anyone affected. Both our internal teams and external partners including our voice acting studio have been working together on an urgent solution. And we will keep you posted on the progress.”
This was all brought to light when a former mod on Gindi’s Discord server named Matty – AKA FretCore on Twitter – tweeted out a Google Doc full of screenshots of Discord conversations, text messages, and other DMs containing sexual content between Gindi and fans. Given the content contained, we advise caution when opening.
The details in the doc were sent to Matty by individuals with whom Gindi allegedly had these relations, as she was a mod in his Discord at the time. She has since left the server.
Several Genshin Impact voice actors have also weighed in on the situation as well, including Brianna Knickerbocker (Hu Tao), Alejandro Saab (Cyno), and many more. “Fans trust you with their hearts and to abuse that trust and take advantage of your position is deplorable,” said Jackie Lastra, who voices Xiangling. “My heart is with the victims. We see you.”