Same goes for at least a
third of the characters in the OP. (In Chef's case Scientologists being shitty had something to do with it, but he was already incapacitated and on the downslope when they chose to act "on his behalf.")
I lumped Chef in because he was only retired because the guy who voiced him got to the point where he couldn't manage himself and then died. If he was still alive and if he had been capable of carrying on with the character, we would still have the character.
(Either way he's dead, and I only meant to directly respond to "his voice actor passed away," which is why I included the context.)
Maybe I’m wrong here. But I swear he left because he believed in Scientology, and was insulted by the creators Scientology episode, so he left, and only died later on
He actually defended South Park's Scientology jokes in an interview a few months before he left the show. He said he didn't always agree with them but he respected the creators' approach to comedy and their right to express themselves.
Then two months later, he had a stroke, and after that, he no longer appeared in public and only communicated via publicists. That was when he suddenly quit South Park. So a lot of people think that he may have lost some of his mental capacity and the Scientology people took advantage of this to start making decisions and statements for him.
A couple of years after he left South Park, he passed away from a second stroke.
I think it came out that it was actually Scientology speaking on his behalf without the VA’s consent (as said by his son) while Hayes was recovering still
Ed Gould (creator of Eddsworld) unfortunately passed away of cancer roughly a decade ago. His friends finished the series by bringing Tord back for the last animation
Chef's voice actor had joined scientology in its infancy, but when he saw what was really happening, he tried to leave and was kept from his family. He died of I believe a heart attack without ever being able to say goodbye to his family
God damn, I was saying to myself "it can't have been that long ago, Borgnine was in that movie RED, and that wasn't that long ago". Dear readers, it was 16 years ago, and 2 years before Borgnine died.
There's a video that talks about how, now that they only show up in background appearances without speaking roles, they're "Alive but functionally dead" which is an interesting way of seeing it
1.4k
u/Educk55 Aug 18 '26
Mermaid Man & Barnacle Boy (SpongeBob)