Jarret Reddick is hired by the company to replace Duncan Brannan, who voiced the mouse mascot for the past 19 years.
- Jul 4, 2012
AceShowbiz - CEC Entertainment Inc., the parent company of restaurant Chuck E. Cheese, posted an image of a silhouette of a guitar-playing mouse on its Facebook page on Tuesday, July 3. It include a tagline that read, "You've never seen Chuck E. Cheese rock like this!"
The mouse is ditching the baseball cap and fingerless gloves and is replacing it with a guitar and red sneakers to match his new rocker look. To go along with the reimaging of the character, Jarret Reddick, frontman of Bowling For Soup, has been hired to be the mouse's new voice.
Duncan Brannan, the original voice of the mouse mascot, claims that he found it out when he listened to "Chuck's New Single" and realized very quickly that it was not his voice. He says that he had been noticing the changes in the past few months and had inquired about his status but the company reassured that his role was safe.
He goes on to say that he is not mad at the company but he is questioning the way it was handled. He says that despite being replaced, he is still grateful for the opportunity.
"Why CEC, Inc. chose to do this, or do it in this manner, one can only speculate and that is not my place," he said. "The fact is I am grateful for the time I have had to do this, to be 'Chuck E.' ... grateful to God for the appointment and grateful to the people at CEC, Inc. for the opportunity."
CEC Entertainment Inc., however, says that they did not fire Brennan. They just wanted someone new to voice the Chuck E. Cheese mascot. They also said that Brennan is a hired freelancer who is still in contract with them and might still provide entertainment in its restaurants.
