In case you missed the Street Fighter 6 character reveals earlier this week – a small but missable change was David Matranga taking over as the voice for Ken Masters.
This normally wouldn’t be that big of a surprise as voice actors often change, but it appears that Reuben Langdon was removed from Street Fighter 6 due to public posts that touched on political issues.
The former voice of Ken Masters from Street Fighter IV in 2008 all the way up to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate in 2018 has been replaced, possibly due to what some say are “problematic” tweets.
Reuben has shown nothing but class responding to the news in tweets posted today:
“I am sad to no longer be the voice of Ken because he is a character dear to my heart,” Langdon said. “There are many lessons here in this situation. I tried my best to be epithetic to people on all sides but I must be myself no matter what and continue on my own journey.”
He added, “Hopefully the next actor will take the character to the next level and the audience will continue to love the Legend that has become Ken Masters. Shoryuken!”
The Twitterati are, as expected, celebrating his release:
“Reuben Langdon is no longer the voice of Ken in Street Fighter 6. Please let Dante be next. This man is lost,” said one user.
Another user said “Man, I would love it if Super Smash Bros. Ultimate retroactively recast David Matranga over Reuben Langdon as Ken, now that we know the latter is a problematic person.”
Old tweet screencaps from Reuben confirm he appears to have been anti-COVID lockdowns, anti-forced vaccinations, and pro-Republican.
He also has defended other personalities deemed “problematic” such as former MMA fighter turned actress Gina Carano of The Mandalorian fame and voice actor Vic Mignogna.
As these are the trifecta of opinions that those types of people look for, they’re elated to find that once again someone’s had their livelihood taken from them.
I’m Bernie Sanders at this point asking, once again, why does anyone’s political opinion matters when they’re playing the role of a fictional character.
There are plenty of people who I don’t align with politically across every possible sphere of entertainment and that’s completely fine as it doesn’t dampen or hinder my ability to enjoy their work at all.
In fact, I miss the old days where celebrities were a lot less accessible than they are now so that I had no idea who they voted for or how they feel about every little social issue that pops up. How little of a life do you have to have to be obsessed with trying to ensure someone who doesn’t align with how you think is unable to earn a living?
This situation sucks for Reuben, but no one will ever be Ken Masters in my head except the guy who voiced him in Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie – Eddie Frierson. Since most of you probably never saw it, you should cause it’s a classic even if it’s a bit dated, but then again I’m also old so get off my lawn.
Street Fighter 6 is launching in 2023 across Windows PC, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5.
