Persona 5 Voice Actress Erica Lindbeck AI Voice Controversy

Overview

Persona 5 Voice Actress Erica Lindbeck AI Voice Controversy refers to an online controversy involving prominent anime and video game voice actress Erica Lindbeck (known for voicing the Persona 5 character Futaba Sakura and the Helluva Boss character Loona, among others) in which Lindbeck condemned the use of her voice in fan-made AI voice videos on YouTube and elsewhere, resulting in backlash and her eventually leaving social media by deleting her Twitter and Instagram accounts. The video that inspired Lindbeck's tweet was a Futaba Sakura AI song cover of Bo Burnham's "Welcome to the Internet."

Background

On July 5th, 2023, Twitter^[1] user @FahneXIV tweeted at Persona 5 voice actress Erica Lindbeck (who voices the character Futaba Sakura), writing, "@ericalindbeck hey so I just found this video, did you consent to having your voice used for AI?" The video in question was uploaded to YouTube^[2] (since-deleted) by YouTuber TheMusicalCreeper and was titled, "Futaba Sakura sings 'Welcome to the Internet' [Bo Burnham]."

Two days later, on July 6th, 2023, Erica Lindbeck posted a tweet (since-deleted) that was likely in response to Twitter^[1] user @FahneXIV in which she linked the YouTuber TheMusicalCreeper's video and wrote, "Please report this stuff you guys, this is such a violation." Evident in screenshots posted elsewhere,^[3] Lindbeck's tweet gained over 3,000 likes in three hours (shown below).

Online Reactions

Lindbeck's tweet inspired a slew of reactions, both positive and negative, online in the following days. For instance, on July 7th, 2023, Twitter^[4] user @BenjaminOscar77 seemingly sided with Lindbeck, urging his followers to report similar videos on YouTube, gaining roughly 2,900 likes in five days (shown below, left). Alternatively, on July 7th, a user on 4chan's /v/^[5] board posted a screenshot of Lindbeck's tweet, captioning it, "When will AI fully replace VA hacks?" (shown below, right).

In the comment section of the original YouTube video, YouTubers wrote comments that defended Lindbeck while others wrote comments that criticized her, including comments that belittled her line of work (example from Twitter^[6] shown below, left). Due to the backlash, YouTuber TheMusicalCreeper deleted their "Futaba Sakura sings 'Welcome to the Internet' [Bo Burnham]" video. Regardless, others on the platform reuploaded it. Then, YouTuber TheMusicalCreeper left comments under the reuploads, condemning them in defense of Lindbeck (example from Twitter^[7] shown below, right).

Developments

Erica Lindbeck Deletes Twitter, Instagram

Plausibly due to the viral discourse and criticism against her, Lindbeck deleted her Twitter account on July 8th, 2023, as reported by Game Rant^[8] that day. Lindbeck also deleted her Instagram account, reiterated in a post to the /r/HelluvaBoss^[9] subreddit on July 8th, which gained roughly 3,500 upvotes in four days (shown below).

The deletion of her Twitter account inspired many reactions, both positive and negative. For instance, on July 8th, 2023, Twitter^[10] user @animalwatcher4 claimed, "I would have understand her and side with her if the original video was monetized but it wasn't," gaining roughly 1,900 likes before being banned for a violation (shown below, left). Many users quote retweeted @animalwatcher4 to disagree with them, such as Twitter^[11] user @yugiohtas on July 8th, whose rebuttal gained roughly 42,600 likes in four days (shown below, right).

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References