Critically acclaimed voice actor Troy Baker has been in the wars recently, after retweeting a joke on Twitter.
As far as the video game scene goes, Baker is about as ubiquitous as air.
He’s leant his diverse voice-acting talents to a slew of blockbuster hits, starring as Booker Dewitt in Bioshock Infinite, Joel from The Last Of Us, the Joker from Batman: Arkham Origins, Pagan Min from Far Cry 4, and Talion from Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor. The list goes on and on.
Baker’s IMDB actor profile reveals a rather impressive resumé that showcases the work of a truly gifted artist. It’s hard to imagine most gamers not being able to find at least one title from their repertoire of games that features Troy Baker.
That being said, many gamers would, perhaps, not even realize that Baker has been responsible for bringing so many memorable video game characters to life; few of Baker’s character creations sound alike, and he consistently delivers awe-inspiring performances.
So, what set Twitter’s “angry juices” a-flowing? Well, the pitchforks were hurriedly sharpened, and the torches set ablaze, because Baker retweeted the following funny about Caitlyn Jenner (formerly Bruce Jenner):
“Brett Michaels looks like Mickey Rourke tried to become Caitlyn Jenner.“
It’s worth pointing out that the above quote was originally penned by writer Brian W. Foster.
After being lampooned by the PC police force of Twitter, the 39-year-old offered the following rebuttal:
“It’s a shame when there are people who would much rather choose to be offended than laugh.“
With the derision continuing, Baker decided to call it quits, concluding his Twitter days with the following simple message: “I quit Twitter.”
And, with that, a single tweet was enough to condemn a man and his entire career. A hard-working and humble man - if you’ve seen any interview featuring Troy, you’d know this to be true - was chased from Twitter’s virtual world.
The name-calling commenced, and so did the all-too-predictable accusations of transphobia.
Firstly, it strikes me as being somewhat ironic that some individuals tackle incidents of perceived abuse by being abusive themselves. For example, calling an individual a “PIECE OF S-T,” or a “F-king A-hole,” doesn’t serve to help anybody, and certainly doesn’t fall within the bounds of constructive criticism. We get it, you’re frustrated. But there are far better ways to articulate your opinions.
Secondly, we need to appreciate there are different styles of comedy that aren’t for everyone. People mock one another all the time, quite often in playful fashion. As an example, let’s take that Family Guy episode, where Seth McFarlane and co. take a jab at Steve Buscemi’s teeth.
Here’s Buscemi’s response to that scene:
And what about his response to the “Buscemi eyes” memes that have been circulating the Internet?
Think about that Justin Bieber Roast on Comedy Central. Bieber was overwhelmed by a torrent of biting jokes. He was ridiculed, called names and laughed at. What did Bieber do? He laughed throughout the whole thing, and - when the time came to address his critics - he served up a surprise apology. You can call into question the sincerity of his apology, but you cannot deny the guy’s bravery.
Frankly, in the realm of comedy, very little is off limits. If we take everything too literally and too seriously, we run the risk of turning this world into an incredibly boring place. Comedy is supposed to be about providing people with laughter and happiness.
While some comedians don’t necessarily always get it right, it’s not a wrongdoing that mandates self-flagellation and electroconvulsive therapy. In many ways, this newfound culture of “offense” can be seen as stifling and oppressive. If people become too afraid to even retweet a simple joke, what other basic freedoms is the Twitter-fearing public destined to lose?
And because of this unforgiving crowd, now, Baker’s 137,000+ Twitter followers are set to suffer. With the voice-actor no longer frequenting the social platform, fans miss out on updates and don’t get the opportunity to interact on a more intimate basis.
Should he apologize? In my opinion, no, he shouldn’t. If Troy meant to cause offense, we would be looking at an entirely different matter. He’s already stated that he was merely trying to make people “laugh.”
As for the charges of transphobia, I think Forbes’ Erik Kain says it best:
“Humor is the great leveler, after all. It’s part of what makes us human, regardless of gender or race. If you can’t joke about a particular demographic, you’re basically saying that demographic isn’t equal. I don’t know about you, but I find that pretty terrible.“
Let’s face it, though, what joke doesn’t “offend” somebody, somewhere? Just because a person happens to offend someone, it doesn’t immediately turn them into some sort of hideous monster.