Red Dead Redemption 2 and Sekiro voice actor speaks out in support of gay shipping of his characters
Gay shipping is not anything new by any means, particularly when it comes to fandom – a community of people who are dedicated to a certain piece of media. Video games often have big fandoms, particularly games like Overwatch and Final Fantasy, and of course, that means a lot of gay shipping. Even games like Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice has a community dedicated to gay shipping. That doesn’t mean that’s all what fandom is about, but it would be false to state otherwise.
For the most part, people react favorably to gay shipping. It was only a few years ago that Mark Hamill stated to Vanity Fair that “of course Luke Skywalker is gay” if that’s what fans saw him as. It was as simple and beautiful as that.
Noshir Dalal, the voice actor of both Sekiro in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and Charles in Red Dead Redemption 2, has also stated his full support of gay shipping with his characters. In a video on Instagram (via VG24/7) Dalal expressed concern at how some other fans are treating these interpretations of his characters.
“I see these comments, like, ‘what the fuck are you doing?’ ‘Don’t do that to my man Charles,’ ‘Sekiro is my boy’ and then insert derogatory term here.” He explained. “Let me be really, really clear. The idea of a gay Charles, or a gay Sekiro… It’s not that I don’t have a problem with it. I’m all about it.”
Dalal went on to explain that just because the interpretation of these two characters being gay doesn’t ‘match their view’ of the characters, it didn’t give people the right to direct their hatred at other people. “You don’t get to spew hate, or try to shut that down. It’s not up to you, and it’s not up to me.”
Dalal himself opened up his own view on why he could see both Charles and Sekiro meaning so much to LGBT+ fans. “Charles is a man who has never felt like he belongs, and even though he’s been thrown a lot of shit in his life and made to feel less-than or not included, he’s always trying to lead with heart and trying to do the right thing.” He continued. “Sekiro, a man whose entire story is based on the conflict that comes from knowing what the given system is demanding of him, what the authorities say he should do, vs the thing his heart tells him is right. If you truly love either of those characters, don’t think you can go around hating on other people for exploring who they are.”
We personally applaud Dalal for speaking out in support of the LGBT+ community that loves his characters so much. Check out the full video yourself below.
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