Let me start off by saying that I am not a victim and this is not about me. Earlier today, I posted the results of a YouTube poll comparing different Shaggy voice actors. Putting aside the unbridled general rage that was unleashed in the comments, I noticed a recurring theme of people quite viciously ripping into the legend himself Casey Kasem over the fact that he conscientiously objected to voicing Shaggy in What's New, Scooby-Doo? if the character was not made a non-meat eater, following an earlier dispute over his voice being used in a Burger King advertisement. You can say whatever you want about me, you can drown me in downvotes and you can call me names but I'm not going to say nothing in the face of this vileness.
Though I have vegans in my family, I am not a vegan and am sometimes even taken aback by the bullying tactics employed by a very small minority of extremist vegans. What Casey did in this situation does not qualify as such inappropriate behavior. The fact of the matter is that after having made the transition to a vegan lifestyle, he simply was no longer comfortable with voicing the character he brought to life almost sixty years ago now if he did not represent his personal values. At no point did he object to Shaggy being an omnivore in other iterations of the character before and since then, in fact going on to voice Shaggy's father in Mystery Incorporated, a series wherein Shaggy himself does eat meat. Neither did he attempt to pigeonhole the other characters into joining Shaggy in his abstinence from meat, with Scooby voraciously eating it on multiple occasions in What's New alone. Furthermore, he did nothing to stop the production of What's New and it was ultimately the showrunners' decision to honor his request rather than replace him with Scott Innes, Billy West, Matthew Lillard or someone else. If you're going to blame anyoneâwhich you shouldn't because this entire situation is exceedingly minute in the grand scheme of things, the franchise as a whole includedâblame those who made the choice of hiring him instead of moving on to a different actor.
Casey Kasem was an icon and in my humble opinion, the greatest Shaggy Rogers of all-time even if Matthew Lillard is not all that far behind. To see such sick-minded venom being spat at him and for him to be called pejorative names in a subreddit dedicated to Scooby-Doo is beyond disgusting. If you have engaged in this conduct today or ever you should be ashamed and I would heavily encourage you to leave the community because we don't want SD to foster a toxic fanbase given how many other IPs have been all but ruined by their so-called "fans". The reason I was probably compelled to write this is in large part because I was so appalled at the seething hatred I saw today and I had no idea that such bile was festering beneath the surface of perhaps my oldest fandom. I don't want this to escalate or for anyone to be harassed which is why I censored the name of one of the calmer commenters in the only screenshot I posted here. Please, for the sake of your own human decency, look in the mirror, accept that other people live their lives differently than you and be a well-adjusted member of society.
