Ex-Funimation Voice Actor David Wald Accuses Crunchyroll of Abuse and Hostile Work Environment After Fan Mail Stealing Scandal

David Wald, known for his voice-acting roles as Gajeel from Fairy Tail, Tetsutetsu from My Hero Academia, and Adam from Sk8 the Infinity, has announced that he will be leaving Crunchyroll due to “abuse” and a “hostile work environment” in the wake of announcing on X that the Sony-owned company began opening his mail and distributing its contents to others.

On Friday, October 25th, Wald wrote to his X account that Crunchyroll, which was acquired by Sony and merged with Funimation back in 2021, had been opening his fan mail and giving it out to employees at the San Francisco company. 

“Dear friends: if you sent me anything care of Funimation or Crunchyroll in the last 5 years, I apologize, I didn’t get it. I learned yesterday that @Crunchyroll opened my private mail, threw away your letters, and passed out any included items to their staff.”

Fans of the voice actor responded with outrage towards the company, with many of them telling Wald which items they had sent, only for him to confirm that he had never been sent the items. “I remember when my friend put this together to send to you” wrote one X user. “Everyone was so looking forward to you getting it, this is extremely heartbreaking.”

While Wald indicates he may eventually pursue legal options against Crunchyroll, Andrew Esquire of The Legal Mindset explained that his options are limited. In a clip from his stream.

On the issue, Andrew explains that because the mail was sent directly to the Crunchyroll offices, they have the right to open and inspect the mail, and laws become less clear once it has been delivered to the correct address. “Once the mail has been delivered, they have no responsibility for who opens it. [...] Courts have looked at this and said if it gets to the address where it’s supposed to go, that’s delivered.”

David Wald has also accused the San Francisco company of abusing their employees and described it as a “hostile work environment.” In a follow up post on X, Wald wrote, “…Jeez, it’s a good thing I didn’t tell them about the gay discrimination. Or the medical discrimination. Or the union busting. Or the continuous culture of fear. Or the hostile workplace environment, or…”

Crunchyroll would then release a statement to io9 about the controversy. “Anime fans have a special connection with dub voice talent, and that emotional expression is important in fueling more love of anime content. We are currently investigating the matter regarding the allegation of undelivered fan mail to a voice actor. We respect the privacy of all of our voice actors and do not intentionally open mail or packages not intended for Crunchyroll. Any fan mail should be sent directly to talent and their management.”

Wald has promised a follow-up stream where he will not only talk about his mail being stolen, but will highlight stories of what he described as the company’s history of abuse. “I am not returning to the @CrunchyRoll studio. Their abuses are FAR too numerous to list here. But soon, I will tell you all of them, and I will do that here” posted Wald, with a follow-up link to his Twitch channel.

David Wald, a long time Funimation voice actor, received criticism from anime fans back in 2021 for his choice to alter lines said by his character Ainosuke Shindo, aka “Adam.” In the original translation, the character says “All you fools who love skateboarding” but Wald altered the dialogue (https://comicbook.com/anime/news/sk8-anime-english-dub-best-line/) to make reference to gender identity where it did not exist. The line was altered to say “All you b—tches and bros, and non-binary hos.” Wald would go on to win the 2022 Crunchyroll Anime Award for Best English Voice Actor Performance for his role in Sk8 the Infinity.

Crunchyroll and Funimation have both been the subject of numerous scandals over the years and have been criticized for their business practices, deliberate mistranslations, improper localization, and inserting dialogue to alter and rewrite entire scenes. They often include references to sexual orientation, gender identity, and internet memes where they do not otherwise exist.

What do you think about David Wald’s allegations? Are you going to watch his upcoming tell-all livestream? Become a paid member to leave a comment and let us know what you think.

By Gator Gamer

Gator is an English language Vtuber and the host of the Anime Boomers Podcast with Cody Baier of Anime Outsiders and Spooky Weebtrash. You can also find him on X as @TheGatorGamer.

NEXT: 'Captain America: Brave New World' Undergoing More Reshoots As Director Reportedly Replaced