Bayonetta Director Addresses The Online Abuse He Faced During The Hellena Taylor Controversy

Prior to Bayonetta 3’s launch, the hype for the game was overshadowed by controversy. Bayonetta’s actor from the first two games, Hellena Taylor, released a video explaining that she did not reprise her role in the new sequel, and accused PlatinumGames of only offering her $4,000 for the role.

It was then reported that she was actually offered between $3,000 to $4,000 per session, with five sessions planned in total, bringing the offer up to $20,000 and no less than $15,000. Taylor later corroberated this, saying that she was initially offered $10,000, which was then upped to $15,000. Turns out, the $4,000 offer was for a cameo which would have been recorded in a single session.

However, the idea that Bayonetta’s original actor was lowballed so much spread like wildfire online, and led to series creator Hideki Kamiya facing significant backlash as he defended PlatinumGames’ position. Now, he is speaking out about how it felt to be on the receiving end of this controversy, and how it resulted in so much harassment that he couldn’t block offending accounts fast enough.

Hideki Kamiya Criticises The Backlash He Received Over The Bayonetta 3 Voice Actor Pay Controversy

Kamiya addressed this in a video on his YouTube channel. Here, he answered a question from a fan, who asked for his thoughts on the Hellena Taylor situation. “Since I was on Twitter at the time, I got flooded with messages. Like, seriously flooded,” says Kamiya. “I just called them ‘messages,’ but they were hate posts. Just tons of verbal abuse pouring in.

“I kept blocking non-stop, but even my speed couldn’t keep up. So I was like, ‘What!? They’re coming in faster than I can block them?'” he continues. People were saying whatever they wanted. Even famous people were jumping in and throwing comments at me.”

A split image of Bayonetta, Bayonetta 2, and Bayonetta 3.

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He also shared his frustration with the fact that people who attacked him deleted their tweets without apologising. At the very least, this has died down now, as the community quickly turned on Taylor once more details came to light – and after she encouraged fans to donate to an anti-abortion charity.