Futurama’s John DiMaggio on ‘Bendergate’: ‘It’s About Self-Respect’

Last week, the joyous announcement that twentieth Animation and Hulu had been reviving Futurama for an eighth season was nearly immediately marred by the invention that voice actor John DiMaggio, who performed the enduring character of Bender on the sequence, was suspiciously absent from the checklist of the present’s returning solid. Now DiMaggio has issued an announcement clarifying why he hasn’t come aboard the brand new sequence, however that he’s nonetheless “hoping for the best.”

DiMaggio launched his message in full on Twitter final evening and as was earlier reported, DiMaggio’s hold-out isn’t about believing he deserves to be paid extra than his fellow voice actors, however that they all should be paid extra for his or her work on the immensely common, always resurrected animated sequence. Here it’s, verbatim:

“I’ve been thinking about everything going on these past months, and just to be clear I don’t think that only I deserve to be paid more. I think the entire cast does. Negotiations are a natural part of working in show business. Everyone has a different strategy & different boundaries. Their ‘price.’ Some accept offers, some hold their ground. Bender is part of my soul & nothing about this is meant to be disrespectful to the fans or my Futurama family. It’s about self-respect. And honestly, being tired of an industry that’s become far too corporate and takes advantage of artist’s time & talent. Look, I wish I could give you every detail so you would understand, but it’s not my place. Thanks again for the love everyone. Still hoping for the best. In the meantime I’ll be in New Orleans shooting Interview With A Vampire for AMC—and very grateful to be! Thanks…”

I’m assuming there have been some Futurama followers who’ve been hounding DiMaggio to suck up Hulu’s supply to get their grasping mitts on new episodes, however I’m glad the voice actor is sticking to his weapons. I really feel extremely assured that no matter twentieth Animation and Hulu are paying the celebs who’ve already signed contracts, like Fry’s Billy West and Leela’s Katey Sagal, it’s lower than they deserve. I’m additionally totally assured that no matter DiMaggio’s asking for, twentieth Animation and Hulu’s mother or father firm Disney pays for it with out breaking the financial institution—and will even pay West, Sagal, and the others the cash they deserve with out noticeably dropping the extent of gold and jewels within the Scrooge-like vault of gold cash I assume Disney retains its huge income in.

If twentieth Animation and Hulu don’t determine to pay DiMaggio now, they’re nonetheless going to pay for it later, as a result of some followers will discover a new Bender too jarring to benefit from the present, and different followers received’t trouble testing a DiMaggio-less Futurama in any respect. As I mentioned earlier than, recasting Bender can be like recasting Homer on The Simpsons—each voice actors’ performances are so idiosyncratic and integral to their exhibits that they’d really feel improper with out them.

Meanwhile, John DiMaggio is in AMC’s Interview With the Vampire TV sequence? Good for him!

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