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Lowenna Waters
Sep 28, 2018
A voice actor who plays general Leia Organa in Star Wars Resistance posted a shocking video onto her Twitter account showing her mocking Christine Blasey Ford's voice during her testimony.
Rachel Butera, a voice performer who has also appeared in Family Guy, took to Twitter to take aim at Blasey Ford's 'vocal fry', while she testified to the Senate about her alleged sexual assault at the hands of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
With an exaggerated croaking, Butera spends the now-deleted minute long video mocking Blasey Ford's voice, totally ignoring the content of the statement.
The original video has been deleted, but a version has been posted to Vimeo:
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In it, Butera can be heard saying:
It's a surprise to even me that I talk this way and I'm a doctor and a grown woman.
I sound like I'm still back at that high school party.
I can't help it, I just have this kind of a voice, like a baby, even though I'm a doctor.Â
She then continues:
I don't know why I speak with 'vocal fry', but you can listen to my testimony and hear that a grown woman sounds this way.
Butera has since deleted her Twitter account. In the now deleted tweet, she wrote:
I can't believe this is my voice, can you??? Dr. Christine Blasey-Vocal Fry-Ford.
Many Twitter users were shocked by the post, and took to the social media platform to criticise the video, and many have requested that she be fired from her role as Princess Leia.
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Following backlash, Butera quickly apologised for the video, and claimed that she was "by no means mocking a rape victim".
In a series of tweets on her now deleted account, Daily Dot reports she wrote:
I was by no means mocking a rape victim I am 100% on Christine Blasey Ford’s side!
I am just a vocal impressionist and decided to imitate her voice but it was a mistake. I apologize a [sic] and I believe ALl women.
She then added:
I am seriously sorry I honestly didn’t think this would offend anyone I just thought I was imitating the voice.
The term 'vocal fry' is often used as a derogatory phrase aimed at women's voices, referring to a croaky jittery sound, which is often used as a means of infantilising, and discrediting the content of what women are saying. This is despite the fact that men's voices often fall into a vocal fry, too.
More: The internet reacts to Dr Christine Blasey Ford's testimony against Brett Kavanaugh