Trans Voice Actor Believed Role Was Made For Him: The Monstrous Final Design Made Him Melt Down
Editor’s Note: Our readers responded strongly to this story when it originally ran; we’re reposting it here in case you missed it.
A transgender voice actor who thought a character in a popular video game would cater to his identification is calling for “reparations” after he learned the character model was a grotesque inhuman villain.
The actor, Zoey Alexandria, said in a now-deleted post that he was voicing a character for an update to “Dead By Daylight,” a popular 2016 survival horror game by Behaviour Interactive that has been ported to virtually every platform imaginable.
According to LGBT-centric website Pink News, Alexandria said in the now-deleted post originally written in mid-March that “[a]t the time of voicing, it was a great experience,” but that he was “told at the time I was voicing the character that there was no model and that the creature was supposed to be amorphous.
“They had no model design before I recorded my lines,” the voice actor said. “So it’s my assumption that the design team, took [sic] my medical history, and my ability to use multiple voices as an opportunity to create character models that encapsulate my medical history as trans, and capitalize on catering to the transphobic community.”
This is somewhat unlikely as the game has already drawn praise from liberal social activists for including a transgender character named Tubarāo, originally from the game “Rainbow Six Siege.”
Nevertheless, he maintained he was “tricked into voicing a stereotype” and has been “virally harassed for being trans, by thousands of people since yesterday.”
Among the “transphobic” elements of the design, he says, are “man in a dress” character skins. However, given that, The Unknown is a non-human, genderless creature who takes on different sets of clothing and appearances based on its prior victims.
WARNING: The following posts contains imagery that the viewer may find disturbing.
The true nature of The Unknown remains a mystery, barring one fatal certainty: if you cross its path, an unknowable fate is guaranteed. There’s no escaping it. 👉 https://t.co/LlrUDURkLO pic.twitter.com/CPEA83GA3W
— Dead by Daylight (@DeadbyDaylight) February 26, 2024
>New Dead by Daylight killer is a deformed freak in a skirt
>voiced by a trаոѕ VAWhat in the ever-living H*CK did the devs mean by this? pic.twitter.com/JSIJBu6VAZ
— Rawrell 🌘 (@_rawrell) March 14, 2024
“Many folks in the trans community are up in arms over this and rightfully so,” Alexandria wrote in the now-deleted post.
“I feel that reparations from the team that deliberately tricked me is the only next choice of action. I am so upset, so infurated that people are comparing trans-people to these clearly TRANSPHOBIC character skins.”
Several social media posts on X about the controversy drew community notes, however, noting the nature of the character Alexandria was voicing.
In comments that “clarified” the initial post, Pink News reported, Alexandria insisted he didn’t want a boycott of Behaviour Entertainment.
“I wasn’t kept in the loop with what the character’s final look would be, I was given an ambiguous description for the part, and even though I tried my best to find out, continually asking for more info, that wasn’t possible,” he said.
“This is why I was upset. The skins themselves were never the issue, lack of communication was.”
As for Behaviour: “They are not transphobic … Behaviour is a good company, and has been nothing but kind and supporting through this tough process of receiving mass harassment for my involvement in the character.”
While there doesn’t seem to be much evidence produced or that can be found of a mass harassment campaign on social media, Alexandria has taken his accounts offline and Behaviour has issued a statement in support of the voice actor.
“Since our latest Chapter release, folks have taken it upon themselves to divert our work from its original purpose and use our newest Killer to target and harass players,” the video game studio said.
“We want to say loudly and unequivocally that this malicious content and attitude is unacceptable and has no place in Dead by Daylight. This community should be a safe place where EVERYONE can find a true sense of belonging.
“These people have also directly targeted the voice artist behind The Unknown, resulting in her being at the centre of hideous attacks,” the company added, using female pronouns for Alexandria.
“She is highly talented, and we were privileged to collaborate with her. Her voice acting experience is perfect for the character we were designing, which needed a wide range of voice tone and expert-level technique. The reception for The Unknown has been phenomenally positive and this is in big part thanks to her dedication and amazing work.”
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