Persona 5 Voice Actress Erica Lindbeck AI Voice Controversy

Added • Updated 2 months ago

Added by Owen • Updated 2 months ago by Zach

Category: Event Status: Submission Year: 2023 Origin: Twitter Region: United States

Type: Controversy,

Tags: erica lindbeck, ai voice, erica lindbeck twitter, persona 5, persona 5 voice actress, futaba sakura voice actress, futaba sakura, twitter, controversy, ai, loona, helluva boss, controversies, gaming, video games, artificial intelligence,

Part of a series on Artificial Intelligence Voices / AI Voice. [View Related Entries]

Top Gallery Images

ADL WE [Daitomodachi] @daitomodachi6 Y'ALL M------------ DROVE ERICA LINDBECK OFF TWITTER? OVER A F------ AI COVER?! II GIF ALT 1:26 PM Jul 8, 2023 · 190.3K Views ●

Dontae M! (Swordtee40 (ART & VA Comms are ... @Swordtee40 Jesus, man. People are f***ing with the VA community again. As soon as we say no to Al, they start attacking us like a swarm of wasps and start drama, claiming WE started drama. Here's an Erica Lindbeck appreciation post. She's one of the best VAs ever. 6:46 PM Jul 8, 2023 33.4K Views ●

Alejandro Saab = Akihiko @KaggyFilms F--- this person. F--- Al. Erica Lindbeck is a sweet heart and doesn't deserve this s---. @animalwatcher4 - Jul 7 @animalwatcher4's account is temporarily unavailable because it violates the Twitter Media Policy. Learn more. 6:32 PM Jul 8, 2023 981.1K Views

LittleKuriboh @yugiohtas Correction - you'd understand her side if you had anything resembling empathy. Jesus you guys ran Erica Lindbeck off twitter. One of the nicest f------ people. Be ashamed. @animalwatcher4. Jul 7 @animalwatcher4's account is temporarily unavailable because it violates the Twitter Media Policy. Learn more. 11:35 AM. Jul 8, 2023 1.4M Views ●

@themusicalcreeper7584 48 min ago Take this down 3 q @themusicalcreeper7584 47 min ago The original video was deleted at the original voice actors request. On top of that, this was uploaded to my channel originally. You just stole and uploaded one of my videos without my consent. Remove this. B2 T ⠀ :

Overview • Background • Online Reactions • Developments •

Overview

Persona 5 Voice Actress Erica Lindbeck AI Voice Controversy refers to an online controversy involving prominent anime and video game voice actress Erica Lindbeck (known for voicing the Persona 5 character Futaba Sakura and the Helluva Boss character Loona, among others) in which Lindbeck condemned the use of her voice in fan-made AI voice videos on YouTube and elsewhere, resulting in backlash and her eventually leaving social media by deleting her Twitter and Instagram accounts. The video that inspired Lindbeck's tweet was a Futaba Sakura AI song cover of Bo Burnham's "Welcome to the Internet."

Background

On July 5th, 2023, Twitter^[1] user @FahneXIV tweeted at Persona 5 voice actress Erica Lindbeck (who voices the character Futaba Sakura), writing, "@ericalindbeck hey so I just found this video, did you consent to having your voice used for AI?" The video in question was uploaded to YouTube^[2] (since-deleted) by YouTuber TheMusicalCreeper and was titled, "Futaba Sakura sings 'Welcome to the Internet' [Bo Burnham]."

Two days later, on July 6th, 2023, Erica Lindbeck posted a tweet (since-deleted) that was likely in response to Twitter^[1] user @FahneXIV in which she linked the YouTuber TheMusicalCreeper's video and wrote, "Please report this stuff you guys, this is such a violation." Evident in screenshots posted elsewhere,^[3] Lindbeck's tweet gained over 3,000 likes in three hours (shown below).

Erica Lindbeck @ericalindbeck - 3h Please report this stuff you guys, this is such a violation. youtube.com BA Futaba Sakura sings "Welcome to the Internet" [Bo... Doesn't this work so well? ;)IMPORTANT: This was OME TO THE INT made purely for fun and entertainment only! It is n... 184 t 911 3,089 ... ılı 211.5K

Online Reactions

Lindbeck's tweet inspired a slew of reactions, both positive and negative, online in the following days. For instance, on July 7th, 2023, Twitter^[4] user @BenjaminOscar77 seemingly sided with Lindbeck, urging his followers to report similar videos on YouTube, gaining roughly 2,900 likes in five days (shown below, left). Alternatively, on July 7th, a user on 4chan's /v/^[5] board posted a screenshot of Lindbeck's tweet, captioning it, "When will AI fully replace VA hacks?" (shown below, right).

Benjamin Oscar @BenjaminOscar77 Please report all of these. @ericalindbeck had asked to have this taken down and while the original user eventually did, numerous others reuploaded it within hours. Don't engage, just report them! NoirelsCool69 29 views 9 hours ago FUTABA SINGS WELCOME TO THE INTERNET 4:38 [MIRROR} Futaba Sakura sings "Welcome to : the Internet" [Bo Burnham] (Al Cover) Corey Shadows 227 views 12 hours ago ● core 69 Lmao mored Futaba Sakura sings "Welcome to the Internet" [Bo Burnham] (Al Cover) (Reuplo... Jimmyr_Thehotpocket 46 views - 2 hours ago FUTABA SINGS 4:34 FUTABA 7:28 PM Jul 7, 2023 92.5K Views Futaba Sakura sings "Welcome to the Internet" [Bo Burnham] (Al Cover) - Reupl... Virusanity 561 views 21 hours ago : 4:41

Anonymous Erica Lindbeck @ericalindbeck - 3h Please report this stuff you guys, this is such a violation. 07/07/23(Fri)08:25:45 No.643275027 184 1911 BA youtube.com Futaba Sakura sings "Welcome to the Internet" [Bo... Doesn't this work so well? :)IMPORTANT: This was OME TO THE INT made purely for fun and entertainment only! It is n... 3,089 192813550091636.png 61 KB PNG When will Al fully replace VA hacks? : 211.5K ...

In the comment section of the original YouTube video, YouTubers wrote comments that defended Lindbeck while others wrote comments that criticized her, including comments that belittled her line of work (example from Twitter^[6] shown below, left). Due to the backlash, YouTuber TheMusicalCreeper deleted their "Futaba Sakura sings 'Welcome to the Internet' [Bo Burnham]" video. Regardless, others on the platform reuploaded it. Then, YouTuber TheMusicalCreeper left comments under the reuploads, condemning them in defense of Lindbeck (example from Twitter^[7] shown below, right).

08:08 FUTABA SINGS WELCOME TO THE INTERNET ← N Replies @saiyangrayzon • 7 hr ago This is one of the ai covers of all time. B2 @biggeek225626 min ago Too bad that it's stealing a voice actor's voice B1 A @virusanity4168 • 12 min ago @biggeek2256 Too bad for Erica, guess she should have picked a different line of work. Al is here to stay. Add a reply... ||| ܡ 96% O < : :

Developments

Erica Lindbeck Deletes Twitter, Instagram

Plausibly due to the viral discourse and criticism against her, Lindbeck deleted her Twitter account on July 8th, 2023, as reported by Game Rant^[8] that day. Lindbeck also deleted her Instagram account, reiterated in a post to the /r/HelluvaBoss^[9] subreddit on July 8th, which gained roughly 3,500 upvotes in four days (shown below).

The deletion of her Twitter account inspired many reactions, both positive and negative. For instance, on July 8th, 2023, Twitter^[10] user @animalwatcher4 claimed, "I would have understand her and side with her if the original video was monetized but it wasn't," gaining roughly 1,900 likes before being banned for a violation (shown below, left). Many users quote retweeted @animalwatcher4 to disagree with them, such as Twitter^[11] user @yugiohtas on July 8th, whose rebuttal gained roughly 42,600 likes in four days (shown below, right).