After intense negotiations with Hulu, veteran voice actor John DiMaggio agreed to return to voice Bender the robot in the streamer’s Futurama revival, bringing #Bendergate to a close. DiMaggio was hesitant to sign onto the new 20-episode order of Matt Groening’s cult favorite series, saying that he and his fellow voice actors deserved better pay. But in a new interview with /Film, DiMaggio reveals that he never did get that pay raise, despite signing onto the series.
During an appearance at at Phoenix Fan Fusion today, DiMaggio said, “People are like, ‘I’m so glad you got more money!’ … I didn’t get more money. But what I did get was a lot of respect, and a lot of head nods from people who are like, ‘Yo bro, I see you and thank you.'” The series was set to proceed without him, with producers “planning on using guest stars” to replace Bender’s voice in each episode.
DiMaggio said he got accolades and respect from his fellow v.o. actors, which he called “quite rewarding,” before adding that “trying to get money out of Disney is like trying to get blood from a stone — you ain’t gonna get it!” In the end, DiMaggio acquiesced to the deal, deciding he’d rather return to the series and join his colleagues. He said, “But listen, this was the best thing about that fight: I had Disney, Hulu, I was holding on to their collective testicles so hard that they couldn’t, y’know, there was nowhere for them to go. But there was also nowhere for me to go, and who wants to hold on to those for that long?”
It sucks that DiMaggio and his co-stars didn’t get paid what they deserve, but we can’t imagine anyone else voicing Bender Bending Rodriguez. The new episodes of Futurama will debut on Hulu in 2023.
(via: /Film, image: 20th Century Fox)
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