Crunchyroll Recasts Leading Role in ‘Mob Psycho 100’ to Squash Unionization Attempt
Crunchyroll is facing scrutiny after recasting the leading role in Mob Psycho 100 season three over a union dispute.
On Tuesday Crunchyroll announced that the lead role in the dub of the upcoming third season of Mob Psycho 100 would be recast. Mob, previously played by Kyle McCarley, will be recast for season three and possibly any potential season going forward. And it looks like the entire reason for this recast is a refusal on Crunchyroll’s part to allow their voice actors to unionize.
Mob Psycho, Crunchyroll, and the Union
In the five minutes video above, McCarley breaks down the situation quickly, concisely, and in layman’s terms. He leaves out all of the boring nitty-gritty and doesn’t specifically condemn or judge anybody involved in the situation or the show. But the general gist of the situation doesn’t leave Crunchyroll in the best light.
Kyle McCarley is a member of the SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) union and Crunchyroll has historically refused to work under union contracts. McCarley states that under normal circumstances that would be a deal breaker and he would walk away from a non-SAG-AFTRA contract. But in this situation, he saw an opportunity to make things better for his fellow voice actors.
“Crunchyroll has historically been very, very hesitant to take anything they produce onto a SAG-AFTRA contract, and because of the role that I have in this particular show, and this particular showโs popularity with you guys, it seemed like maybe there was an opportunity to change that.” – Kyle McCarley
McCarley agreed to return to season three of Mob Psycho 100 under the circumstance that they agree to sit down for a good-faith discussion with a union representative. He states that he was clear that an agreement wasn’t necessary, or a contract, just the promise of a discussion.
Crunchyroll could not agree to these terms. But interestingly, it looks like they would have been more than happy to pay at a union scale.
“And I want to put this little note in here to be very, very clear, itโs not about money. They were prepared to pay me at least what I would be getting on a union-scale contract, possibly more. They just donโt want to put it on a union contract.” – Kyle McCarley
Apparently, fair compensation and payment aren’t an issue. This leaves us to wonder what the streaming giant wants to avoid in a union contract. And these tweets from McCarley’s accompanying Twitter threat may have the answer. (Spoiler alert, it’s health insurance and a retirement fund. Because of course it is.)
Just one example of how SAG-AFTRA helps voice over performers, specifically, is by negotiating terms that protect us from vocally stressful work. We often have to do a lot of screaming/shouting on the job, but our contracts ensure it’s never for too long a time (3/8)
โ ๐๐ช๐๐ ๐๐โ๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ช ๐บ๐ฆ๐ณ๏ธโ๐ (@KyleMcCarley) September 20, 2022
Crunchyroll’s Response
Polygon and Kotaku both reached out to Crunchyroll for their statement on this situation and received identical responses reading:
“Crunchyroll is excited to bring fans worldwide the dub for the third season of Mob Psycho 100 III as a SimulDub, the same day-and-date as the Japanese broadcast. Weโll be producing the English dub at our Dallas production studios, and to accomplish this seamlessly per our production and casting guidelines, we will need to recast some roles. Weโre excited for fans to enjoy the new voice talent and greatly thank any departing cast for their contributions to previous seasons.”
… Which is eighty-one words that manage to say nothing.
Some fans across social media are calling for a boycott of Crunchyroll with a few claiming to cancel their subscriptions. Given Crunchyroll’s success and their status as pretty-much-the-only-option for legally streaming anime, I doubt such a movement would catch on.
Season three of Mob Psycho 100 will premiere on Crunchyroll on October 5th. But it will be doing so very noticeably without Kyle McCarley or a SAG-AFTRA contract for its English-dub performers.
Do you use Crunchyroll? Are you looking forward to Mob Psycho 100‘s third season? What do you think about Crunchyroll’s refusal to even agree to a non-committal conversation with union reps? Let us know in the comments!
Ja Ne, Adventurers!
