Blizzard Entertainment have replaced Kael’thas’ voice actor Quinton Flynn in World of Warcraft, likely due to allegations of sexual misconduct; despite a judge ruling the allegations came from an obsessive stalker.
Flynn had voiced Kael’thas Sunstrider until patch 9.1.0; where his old lines in The Burning Crusade expansion and new lines in Shadowlands have been replaced by a new voice actor. You can find a comparison video via Keyboardturner below.
The reason for Flynn’s replacement is likely due to recent allegations of sexual harassment. The initial allegations came from Twitter account “BewareQFlynn” in November 2020, encouraging others to speak up if Flynn had acted inappropriately with them. At this time of writing, the account’s tweets are protected.
GameRant reports the allegations center around Flynn using his fame to attract female fans at conventions and online. These then lead to allegedly sexual comments, kissing, attempted sexual assault, and other unwanted physical contact at conventions, including from some those claiming to be minors, and grooming. The evidence included alleged screenshots of the conversations, and an audio clip of an “uncomfortable” nature.
Despite this, BewareQFlynn stated their motives were not to bring Flynn to justice, or accuse him of a crime. “This page never said he did anything illegal or specifically targeted minors. Let’s make that clear,” the Twitter account tweeted. “I said he uses his fan base to find women that he can use his fame to make feel special and then get them to do as he pleases, while lying about his actual intentions.”
Flynn has released a statement on Twitter today, claiming the account was by a woman called Kristen (also known as “Krissy Rose”). Flynn claims he had been in a “very brief virtual relationship” with her in Summer 2019, neither party met each other physically, and was entirely consensual.
Along with denying the allegations against him or cheating on his wife, Flynn claims the sexual audio Kristen released was from consensual conversations she had edited together. He also claims the Twitter account launched within two days of her learning about his new marriage. Flynn feels this was done out of revenge for the relationship ending over a year prior.
Flynn further claims this was orchestrated with Chloe, another woman he had a “casual long-distance relationship” with, who claimed he attempted to sexually assault her. Chloe had allegedly admitted to her claim could never have happened.
Other allegations Flynn denies includes licking a former friend called EJ (born of a cropped image from a 2015 photoshoot, including staged poses) who had remained on friendly terms with him despite claims of blocking him (and attended several of her events. A video of him kissing a girl (claimed to be non-consensual) had allegedly omitted an earlier moment where her friends encouraged him to do so. Flynn admits the attitudes of conventions 13 years ago made it “a relatively normal occurrence.”
Kristen’s motives for all of this was reportedly due to her alleged stalking, harassment, and threats against Flynn. He claims he took out an order of protection against her. Fans had also rallied to Flynn’s defense, with some digging into the claims further.
The matter had allegedly been taken to court, where it was discovered Kristen had set up anonymous accounts on multiple platforms to harass his wife, mother-in-law, and mother. The judge had also ruled the Twitter page be taken down, and deemed that Kristen had obsessively stalked Flynn, his family, friends, and colleagues. The Twitter was set to protected possibly around February 3rd.
Flynn explains he had kept silent on the matter for so long under advice of counsel, and to keep his family safe. “I was shocked and saddened to see the news of my replacement in No More Heroes III and World of Warcraft, and I’m sorry to those of you who are disappointed.” At this time of writing, the details of the court case do not appear to have been widely publicized outside of Flynn’s recent statement.
Flynn had voiced Henry Cooldown in the No More Heroes series (now voiced by Mark Allan Stewart), along with Axel in the Kingdom Hearts series, Raiden in the Metal Gear Solid series, and Reno in Final Fantasy VII (prior to Remake).
Image: World of Warcraft Fandom Wiki
