Commissions, Ships, and Fandom Harassment: A Voice Actor's Story
- Sapphire Luna
- Dec 1, 2024
- 3 min read
CW: MENTIONS OF ABUSE, RAPE, AND ONLINE HARASSMENT
Last week, Hellaverse creator, Vivienne Medrano, and voice actor behind Valentino, Joel Perez, have come under fire in regards to a commission that was made (see image above) and put on his Streamily shop for himself and Blake Roman (the voice actor behind Angel Dust) to sign. The commission has gained backlash due to the fact that it is known in the show that Valentino is Angel Dust's abuser. Perez has also received backlash by the fandom for acknowledging the commission and putting it on his website, being accused of "romanticizing abuse." This has been a hot-button issue in the fandom since the premiere of the fourth episode, "Masquerade," when Angel's big solo number, "Poison", made its debut in the show. Its biggest criticism from the fandom and hatedom was how the number romanticized Angel's abuse.
Unfortunately, this is not a new thing that Joel Perez has been experiencing. Since the debut of the show in January, he has gotten endless amount of harassment online, simply for playing the character of Valentino, despite knowing that Valentino is a villain character and is portrayed in such an over-the-top way. The fact that this problem is still persisting to this day is telling how this fandom is able to differentiate fiction and reality. I want to give these people some leeway, mainly because the probability of these people being very young and do not know any better is on the high side; but that does not make this harassment right in any way.
Not that long after the debacle, Vivienne Medrano made a statement on her Bluesky in regards to the harassment Joel has been receiving.
The point of Valentino's character is that he is no one is supposed to root for him. He is solely supposed to be a love-to-hate type of character. People are allowed to like Valentino as a villain. Most people are well aware of the fact that Valentino is a rapist and abuser. The people who enjoy his character and want to see how his character develops throughout the show do not endorse his actions in any way, shape, or form.
Now, on to Joel's harassment. If anyone has seen the interviews and the meetups at conventions that he has attended, most would know that Joel Perez is one of the sweetest, and most down-to-earth people on this planet. The way he is off-camera and with his fellow co-stars is the complete opposite of his character on Hazbin Hotel. Not only that his own voice acting has brought Valentino to life and intrigued so many people to his character, and if you are like me and would love to beat the shit out of Valentino if he was real, you can thank Joel Perez for his performance and portrayal of the character. That means he did his job.
Joel mentions in his post that Angel and Valentino have a canon relationship in the series, and fully acknowledges that their relationship is toxic. He also mentions how important it is to step away from raging over fictional characters and use that rage towards actual rapists and abusers in real life.
To cap it off, Joel showed that he truly cares by letting his followers know that if they are in danger, they can contact RAINN, a national sexual assault hotline and the nation's largest anti-sexual violence organization.
Not only that, but many of the people that defended Joel are victims of sexual assault themselves, myself included. It is critical to understand that everyone's experiences with sexual assault is different. If your see your own story in Angel's, like me, that's great. If not, that's great too. The point is that we should not be putting all our energy on fictional characters and focus our rage on real life abusers.
If you or someone you know is struggling with the trauma of sexual assault, the please reach out to or donate to the following organizations:
RAINN: https://rainn.org/
The Joyful Heart Foundation: https://www.joyfulheartfoundation.org/
National Sexual Violence Resource Center: https://www.nsvrc.org/
Take Back the Night: https://takebackthenight.org/
National Alliance to End Sexual Violence: https://endsexualviolence.org/
Center for Changing Our Campus Culture: https://changingourcampus.org/
Sexual Assault Kit Initiative: https://www.sakitta.org/
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