Futurama’s John DiMaggio on ‘Bendergate’: ‘It’s About Self-Respect’

I’m assuming there have been some Futurama fans who’ve been hounding DiMaggio to suck up Hulu’s offer to get their greedy mitts on new episodes, but I’m glad the voice actor is sticking to his guns. I feel incredibly confident that whatever 20th Animation and Hulu are paying the stars who have already signed contracts, like Fry’s Billy West and Leela’s Katey Sagal, it’s less than they deserve. I am also fully confident that whatever DiMaggio’s asking for, 20th Animation and Hulu’s parent company Disney can pay for it without breaking the bank—and could even pay West, Sagal, and the others the money they deserve without noticeably dropping the level of gold and jewels in the Scrooge-like vault of gold coins I assume Disney keeps its massive profits in.

If 20th Animation and Hulu don’t decide to pay DiMaggio now, they’re still going to pay for it later, because some fans will find a new Bender too jarring to enjoy the show, and other fans won’t bother checking out a DiMaggio-less Futurama at all. As I said before, recasting Bender would be like recasting Homer on The Simpsons—both voice actors’ performances are so idiosyncratic and integral to their shows that they would feel wrong without them.

Meanwhile, John DiMaggio is in AMC’s Interview With the Vampire TV series? Good for him!

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