A Dead by Daylight voice actor, who is a man pretending to be a woman and goes by the name of Zoey Alexandria, accused developer Behavior Interactive of tricking him into “voicing a stereotype” and is now demanding reparations.
Dead by Daylight key art
As pointed out by YouTuber Melonie Mac, in a post to social media, the voice actor wrote, “I voiced the character ‘the unknown’ in dead by daylight. At the time of voicing, it was a great experience. I was told at the time I was voicing the character that there was no model and that the creature was supposed to be amorphous. They had no model design before I recorded my lines.”
He continued, “So it’s my assumption that the design team, took my medical history, and my ability to use multiple voices as an opportunity to create character models that encapsulate my medical history as trans, and capitalize on catering to the transphobic community.”
Dead by Daylight’s Tome III: Escalation Key Art
Next, he asserted, “I was tricked into voicing a stereotype. Since yesterday, I have been virally harassed for being trans, by thousands of people since yesterday.”
“Many folks in the trans community are up in arms over this and rightfully so,” he continued. “I feel that reparations from the team that deliberately tricked me is the only logical next choice of action. I am so upset, so infuriated that people are comparing trans-people to these clearly TRANSPHOBIC character skins. If I had any idea of the fallout that would happen after simply voicing a character, I never would have in the first place.”
Dead by Daylight Key Art
He then apologized, “Let me personally apologize to anybody who has been a victim of transphobia due to this release. Please know you are loved. Know that you are valid. As for me, I am not okay. This has ruined my reputation, has put me physically at risk for being attacked in public if anybody recognizes my face or voice. There were no diversity consultants on this project. The company knew that making a stereotypical ‘man in a dress’ as a character and having a TRANS voice actress voice it, would bring lots of money and people back to the game.”
“I’m not dumb, I know how marketing works,” he asserted. “This seems to be a huge ploy and the trans-community along with myself were the victims.”
Dead by Daylight voice actor demands reparations
The character in question is The Unknown, and is one of the playable killers in the game. If you are unfamiliar with Dead by Daylight, it allows players to take on the role of a killer or four survivors. As the survivors, your goal is to outwit and outlast the killer during each session on various different maps. The killer’s goal is to kill all the survivors before they are able to escape.
The game features a plethora of different killers and survivors including Chucky, the Xenomorph, the demogorgon, Ghost Face, Freddy Kreuger, Leatherface, Michael Myers, Nicolas Cage, Ellen Ripley, Jill Valentine, Leon S. Kennedy, Nancy Wheeler, Laurie Strode, and more.
A list of the various Killers available to play in Dead by Daylight (2016), Behaviour Interactive
As for The Unknown, it’s an original character.
The game’s official site describes the character, “There are many theories as to its origin. Some speculate that it’s a malevolent entity conjured long ago by an ancient cult. Others believe it to be an alien that escaped from Area 51. There are those that say it thrives in darkness, stealing the voices of its prey and luring people to their doom. Is it an evil entity? An extraterrestrial? A failed government experiment? A serial killer allergic to publicity? The true answer is Unknown…”
The Unknown via Dead by Daylight’s official website
As showcased by Staggiez, the character has a number of different cosmetic options that allow players to customize the killer.
After claiming to have been tricked and demanding reparations, the voice actor deleted the account, but has since launched a new X account and has a very different narrative.
He posted, “There has been a recent misunderstanding. Anybody that thinks the skins are going away is not in the loop. Behavior is allegedly aware of the mass transphobic remarks and memes being made, and the gaming community is not a reflection of the game developers.”
“I wasn’t kept in the loop with what the characters final look would be, I was given an ambiguous description for the part, and even though I tried my best to find out more, continually asking for more info, that wasn’t possible. This is why I was upset. The skins themselves were never the issue. Lack of communication was,” he said.
He then called on his followers to stop boycotting Behaviour Interactive, “Please STOP “Boycotting” Behavior. They are NOT transphobic, it’s wrong to take bits of info and jump to your own conclusions. Behavior is a good company, and has been nothing but kind and supporting through this tough process of receiving mass harassment for my involvement in the character. ”
Dead by Daylight voice actor calls on player stop boycotting it
What do you make of this voice actor’s comments?
What did he expect? He literally voiced a monster for a horror game. The description is pretty funny when read in a tongue in cheek manner. Something “unknown”. Stealing voices of it’s prey? A failed govt experiment?