Bendergate

Overview

Bendergate is the name given to the social media campaign and controversy surrounding the 2022 reboot of the animated TV series Futurama, made by Matt Groening, to proceed with production without John DiMaggio, the original voice actor of the robot character Bender. DiMaggio is the only voice actor out of the original cast who has not signed on to return for Hulu's revival of the show, resulting in the naming of the controversy. The hashtag "#Bendergate" trended online in February 2022 shortly after the announcement.

Background

On February 9th, 2022, it was announced that Futurama had entered production with new episodes to be made for Hulu in 2023. The announcement was made on Hulu's official Twitter^[1] page, and the promotional image used depicted Bender holding a flag with the text "We're back baby" (shown below).

Following the announcement's initial reveal, it then came out in clarification that John DiMaggio, the voice of Bender, would not be returning at this time, with his role potentially to be recast, according to a report by Deadline^[2] (shown below). The article noted that DiMaggio's decision stemmed from issues with pay to reprise the role and Hulu reportedly unbudging on the matter.

Online Reaction

After the unexpected announcement of the Futurama reboot and subsequent news of DiMaggio not returning, the online reaction was massive, with multiple celebrities voicing their displeasure at DiMaggio not returning to his role, some supporting his stance to demand better pay, and many users posting memes and reactions with mixed feelings on the reboot. An early sentiment and future talking point was by prolific voice actor Tara Strong on her official Twitter^[3] account on February 10th, 2022, which received nearly 8,000 likes and 1,200 retweets in five days (shown below).

Initial reactions by fellow voice actors and fans revolved around DiMaggio wanting more money to do Futurama, with some criticizing him for purportedly "being greedy" and not following the other cast members to reprise his character, which would financially hurt his co-stars by not having additional episodes produced.

This narrative was attacked early on by Tara Strong (and other fans), and expounded on further by DiMaggio in an update he posted on his Twitter^[4] on February 15th, 2022, in which he said that voice actors are regularly treated poorly by the industry and every cast member deserves a raise for the hard work they do (shown below). This tweet also made use of the #Bendergate hashtag.

Various Reactions

Search Interest

External References