Voice Actress Wendee Lee Sparks Major Backlash Over Her Previous Role in 'Bleach'

What's been the drama surrounding voice actor Wendee Lee? She has just lately addressed adverse backlash over her legacy role in the 'Bleach' anime.

The Gist:

• Voice actor Wendee Lee won major backlash over her remarks towards a voice actor of color.
• A role she had in the past had in the Bleach anime used to be recast for its revival series, Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War.
• Wendee has spoke back to the controversy and issued an apology.

When the anime adaptation of Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War was once first introduced, it took the anime neighborhood by typhoon. The unique anime series was once unceremoniously canceled back in 2012 sooner than it will finish adapting the rest of Tite Kubo's manga, however it would go back a decade later with the intent of officially wrapping up the story. To commemorate the return, many voice actors from each the original Japanese dub and the English dub returned to reprise their roles.

But while the Bleach anime used to be in hibernation, the voice appearing trade in the West has shifted significantly. Voice actors of color are way more vocal (no pun supposed) about in need of more alternatives to portray a much wider range of characters, having previously been and continuing to be topic to the similar roughly racist typecasting that on-screen actors have suffered in tandem.

To that end, voice actor Wendee Lee has sparked quite a lot of drama thanks to the reactions she posted over the recasting of her Bleach personality. Here's what came about.

Voice actor Wendee Lee sparks drama over her public remarks about her 'Bleach' character.

Some time after Thousand-Year Blood War used to be announced, it was once printed that a lot of the English dub solid would go back to reprise their roles in the new anime. Johnny Yong Bosch returned to his role as collection protagonist Ichigo Kurosaki. He used to be joined by means of fellow Bleach veterans Stephanie Sheh as Orihime Inoue, Michelle Ruff as Rukia Kuchiki, and Derek Stephen Prince as Uryu Ishida, amongst many others.

However, some recasts had been made for lots of the darker-skinned characters in the series. In an effort to make stronger extra diverse casting in the voice acting trade, Caucasian voice actor Jamieson Price stepped down from the role of half-Japanese, half-Mexican persona Yasutora "Chad" Sado, whom he portrayed for several episodes of the unique anime. The personality is currently portrayed by Alain Mesa in the brand new anime.

Unfortunately, different recasts of a similar nature invited some controversy. Earlier this yr, voice actor of color Anairis Quiñones (she/her, they/them) published that she would be portraying Yoruichi Shihoin in Thousand-Year Blood War. Being of Puerto Rican descent, Anairis published in a tweet that she used to be excited to voice the character in honor of "the POC community who had seen themselves in her."

The English dub role in the beginning belonged to longtime voice actor Wendee Lee of Caucasian descent.

Shortly after making the announcement, however, it used to be revealed that casting had modified their minds and made up our minds to recast Wendee in her legacy role.

While Anairis was upset to receive the scoop, she used to be met with an outpouring of beef up from fanatics. However, healthy responses to Anairis had apparently earned Wendee Lee's contempt.

In a sequence of tweets, Wendee started responding negatively to lovers and even fellow voice actors who confirmed their beef up for Anairis following the recast. In lots of her replies, she vocally argued the truth that she was a part of the unique forged despite no prompting or call-outs from any of Anairis' enthusiasts over this reality. Many interpreted Wendee's statements as toxic and damaging toward Anairis and virtually everyone showing her reinforce.

Throughout the fallout from her statements, many voice actors have come ahead with accusations that Wendee Lee has at all times been this vindictive at the back of the scenes. Wendee has since issued an apology and has even reached out to Anairis privately.

Publicly, Wendee tweeted, "I reached out and apologized. Mistakenly assumed my colleagues knew I originated the role and felt unsupported by the disappointment expressed in their comments re: the cast change. Apologies and heartfelt well-wishes to Anairis."

Subsequently, Anairis publicly acknowledged that Wendee reached out to her individually and apologized. However, Anairis maintains that Wendee's initial responses were "unkind" towards her fellow voice actors.

"I haven't responded to Wendee privately as I have no energy or interest in participating in the situation than I already have," Anairis tweeted. "I am not ready to talk. Please respect that."

As of this writing, Anairis has taken a wreck from social media amidst the backlash.

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