Chuck E. Cheese Ditches Retro Rodent for Rockstar - East Idaho News
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Chuck E. Cheese Ditches Retro Rodent for Rockstar

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GETTY B 070512 ChuckECheese?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1341484338076Mark Schiefelbein/Wireimage for OK! Magazine(NEW YORK) — It’s advertised as the place where a kid, no matter what their age, can be a kid, but nobody told the bosses at Chuck E. Cheese that age is just a number.

The parent company of the kid-friendly pizza chain has just given the pink slip to its long-time rodent mascot, trading in the baseball hat and glove-wearing older version for a younger, hipper electric-guitar-playing mouse.

Texas-based CEC Entertainment teased what’s to come on the chain’s Facebook page with a shadowed mouse holding a guitar next to the text, “You’ve Never Seen Chuck Rock Like This Before.”

The change has already generated controversy because the voice behind the mascot also got a younger, hipper makeover, to the alleged surprise of the man who had provided the voice for nearly 20 years.

Duncan Brannan claims he only learned of his replacement when he ran across “Chuck’s Hot New Single” online last week and realized it was definitely not his voice.

Brannan claimed in a statement reproduced on the Chuck E. Cheese fan site showbizpizza.com that a company representative told him he had been replaced.

CEC Entertainment denied that claim, saying in a statement that Brannan was not fired, but “rather, we simply chose to utilize new voice talent for the original music we have written as part of a TV advertising campaign …”

In a Facebook post spotted by the Dallas Observer, Brannon wrote, “Why CEC, Inc. chose to do this, or do it in this manner, one can only speculate and that is not my place.  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.”

The new ads, called “Chuck E. Rocks,” feature the guitar-playing mascot dancing around tables and the chain’s signature arcade games, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

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