Role-Ending Misdemeanor cleanup

In a recent Ask The Tropers discussion, which can be found here, some potential ideas about a cleanup for the Role-Ending Misdemeanor trope was raised. For example, RoleEndingMisdemeanor.Web Original is a bit of a mess and it attracts a lot of examples where nobody even lost their roles. I think we should try starting a cleanup effort.

If there are any other cleanup suggestions for this trope, please post here.

Edited by gjjones on Mar 22nd 2021 at 9:50:51 AM

So one thing that confuses me is how we define "role-ending." The page definition suggests that withdrawing from the public of your own choosing, even if you don't necessarily quit, can still count, which I think accounts for a lot of the Web Original page bloat as self-made public presence is often all these guys have. Also, if they lose some but not all of their platforms, like in Keemstar's case, would that still count?

As for specific problematic entries, the whole Brony section has a lot of people who don't seem to have been specifically ousted from any group or have reduced their presence in the public eye, but are just really disliked in the community now. It also reads more like a gossip mag than anything.

Edited by mightymewtron on Mar 22nd 2021 at 12:45:49 PM

Also, if they lose some but not all of their platforms, like in Keemstar's case, would that still count?

I think definitely does, platforms are private companies, and if someones makes content that might damage their reputation and they take steps to stop it, it does fit with the definition. Regardless if it's one or all of the ones that host them.

One thing to take into account is that since Web Original has a very low-entry-barrier (anyone with Internet connection can make content), it's only natural that there are are going to be a lot more examples of Role-Ending Misdemeanor than other media.

I think that for that particular media the examples have to either:

• Have been kicked/banned/demonetized from one or more of their platforms.
• Withdrawn from public or reduce their activity as a direct consequence of their behaviour.

In addition to the criteria common to other media:

• Dropped by sponsors/advertisers.
• Fired/resigned from their shows.

Being hated/disliked after an incident should not qualify if they're still producing content in the same manner and/or frequency.

That sounds good.

Maybe we could add RoleEndingMisdemeanor.Web Original (but not necessarily Role-Ending Misdemeanor as a whole) to No Recent Examples, Please!, per what was previously said about people using this page to get around Overshadowed by Controversy's time limit.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Mar 22nd 2021 at 4:36:09 AM

We don't need as long a waiting period as OBC, since often we can objectively tell when somebody gets fired for some scandal, but a week waiting period might be a good start.

A week might work.

A week sounds good.

Do we need to take the No Recent Examples, Please! proposal to the thread for that index, or can we do it through this thread? We'd probably get more responses there.

I already took it there.

...That's what I get for being too lazy to check the thread myself.

On RoleEndingMisdemeanor.Web Original:

• For 21 years, TSSZ News (formerly The Super Sonic Zone) was one of the big, if not the biggest repository of Sonic the Hedgehog news, reviews, and the like. All of this came to an end on May 31, 2020, after a weekend of terrible tweets from its owner/founder Tristan "T" Oliver, who attempted to follow the events stemming from the death of George Floyd on the site's Twitter, then attempting to compare the resulting protests and riots to events of Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Forces in an ill-advised push back from readers who thought that a Sonic news site had no business covering the riots. Pulling a Rage Quit, Oliver closed down the site, taking down decades of content (though it later managed to be archived), leading to many fans to tell him to not come back if he was going to go with that attitude.

This came off more like a Creator Breakdown to me, and many people agreed he definitely overreacted and did not need to shut down the site.

It does sound more like Creator Breakdown. I'm not sure if it can count as a Role-Ending Misdemeanor since the creator ended his role himself rather than someone else (such as the hosting company or advertisers) doing it.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Mar 28th 2021 at 10:22:42 AM

From RoleEndingMisdemeanor.Video Games

• Avalanche Software developer Troy Leavitt resigned after his Youtube channel emerged, which contained videos that criticized the #Me Too! movement and the social justice movement, alongside a video defending former Pixar executive John Lasseter from sexual misconduct allegations. It didn't help that he was currently working on Hogwarts Legacy, whose crew had recently been at huge pains to stress that J.K. Rowling wasn't personally involved in its creation after her own controversial statements.

Troy's put out a video that pretty much puts the Kibosh on rumors that the controversy directly led to him retiring.

Also, I am thinking of doing a bit of touch-up on the paragraphs for "Ally", "CaptainZack", and "Nairo" for better flow.

Edited by HashiriyaR32 on Apr 19th 2021 at 10:52:00 AM

This was just recently added to RoleEndingMisdemeanor.Anime And Manga:

• Alison Viktorin, best known for her English voice-over roles as Kuroko Shirai in A Certain Magical Index and QT in Space☆Dandy, practically entered early retirement when she posted several comments in support of the controversial pro-Donald Trump Capitol Riots to her public social media accounts. While Funimation never directly stated that she was terminated from working with them, she apparently saw the writing on the wall when considering that most of her colleagues are anti-Trump liberals and decided to quit voice acting in anime a short time afterward.

Should it be kept or removed?

Edited by gjjones on Mar 30th 2021 at 1:44:34 PM

You could probably cut "While Funimation..." and everything after it, partially because it sounds like Speculative Troping, and partially because the first sentence already covers why the role ended.

Also, what should be done with these entries from the Anime and Manga section?

• Blake Lewis, the runner-up on the sixth season of American Idol, announced on Twitter that he was reprising his role of Kasuka Heiwajima for season 2 of Durarara before the English dub was even confirmed. When the cast was announced, Vic Mignogna was instead listed as the character's voice. Many thought it was a mistake at first, but once the episodes began coming out, it was indeed Mignogna's voice heard as Kasuka. Some speculate the character was quietly recast because Lewis had broken NDA.
• Christopher Corey Smith announced that he voiced Prince Demande in Sailor Moon R on Twitter before the cast was announced, but he quickly deleted it. When the final cast was officially announced a few weeks later, Matthew Mercer was instead listed as the character's voice. Fans assumed Smith was fired for breaking NDA before he confirmed that he was given clearance to announce the role, but was told that he was replaced after making the announcement.
• Voice actor Tom Wayland, best known for his work on Pokémon among others, exited the show in 2015 after he was accused of rape the year before. Fortunately, Wayland would eventually be cleared of all charges not long afterward, and while he has yet to return to Pokémon, the rest of his voice acting career remains unaffected to this day.

Edited by gjjones on Apr 18th 2021 at 7:29:17 AM

1 is good (as it's a reasonable conclusion from what we know.) 2 outright admits it isn't an example. 3 is good.

Removed Troy Leavitt's block citing his video statement, and started working on the 3 blocks for those 3 Smash players.

I've removed a few entries that read like drama importation as well as ones where the misdemeanor was too vague, didn't lose their job, or merely lost access to social media.

I think some examples that count as "career-ruining" in that they disappear altogether are considered valid under the current definition, though one day I'd like to TRS that to make it about actively losing a position as opposed to just vanishing.

Also I think if somebody's platform is on the web and they're kicked from the platform, that might count, like in the case of The King Of Hate where he was kicked off Blip, the platform on which he streamed.

You make an interesting point. How many examples are just about vanishing versus actually getting kicked off a platform?

Maybe I'll start a wick check myself. I'll go over to the Wick Check Project to work on it.

EDIT: The current description includes both getting fired and simply vanishing as things the trope allows. I will hold off on the wick check for now.

Edited by themayorofsimpleton on Apr 29th 2021 at 6:02:44 AM

I simply deleted entries I felt didn't fit the current criteria well, like Steve Bannon's ban since he still has a podcast on the App Store. There was also a bit of drama where I couldn't find any indications of them vanishing or being punished, so I removed them. I was mixed on The King of Hate, but I deleted it since it might just be a minor black mark (since Blip's long-gone too).

In hindsight though it probably should have been kept. My bad.

It happens sometimes. We get so annoyed by misuse of a trope/YMMV/whatever on occasion that we start seeing legitimate examples as misuse.