Frazer Blaxland–the voice actor behind Baldur’s Gate 3’s beloved tiefling blacksmith, Dammon–is facing criticism after players noticed him following a number of controversial Twitter accounts, liking tweets that promote homophobia, sexism, transphobia, and other bigoted views, and expressing apparently unwavering support for the IDF’s actions in Palestine, which have killed tens of thousands of people.
Blaxland (who also voices other Baldur’s Gate 3 NPCs, including Anders, Arne Jacobson, and Bunt Chugley) responded to the controversy on March 15, in a now-deleted tweet, saying, “To the person who noticed these accounts, thank you for making me aware of them and the hurt it has caused. This has been a very important lesson learned about the significance of who I follow on social media. Prior to this, I never put much thought into hitting the ‘follow’ button. Going forward, I will be mindful about who I follow, because it does matter.”
Blaxland also thanked the community for “checking him” and maintained that following these accounts did not mean he supported or agreed with the views of the account owners. But he declined to address the plethora of bigoted tweets he had personally liked, and later deleted the apology tweet altogether. He has not addressed the controversy in the days since, but has continued retweeting fanart of his Baldur’s Gate 3 character.
Blaxland’s fellow voice actor Neil Newbon–who voiced Astarion in the award-winning RPG–directly addressed the controversy in a recent Twitch stream while playing Baldur’s Gate 3 alongside his his friend, horror writer Tom De Ville, who he frequently streams with. (De Ville also addressed the situation on Twitter.)
“We are proud supporters of the LGBTQIA+ community,” Newbon said in the clip. “This is a safe space for everybody. We also are very much against the genocide that’s happening in Palestine … We’re anti-facist, anti-racist, anti-homophobe, and we will always be so. We are upset about what’s happened [with Blaxland], and we just want to make sure that people are aware that we’re completely [against] any of that kind of behavior, and it’s affected both of us–it’s affected us a lot.”
De Ville agreed, adding, “The most important thing to us is that people feel safe.”
Baldur’s Gate Developer Larian Studios has yet to comment on Blaxland’s online behavior.
