On October 15, 2022, Bayonetta's original voice actress Hellena Taylor (who was replaced by Jennifer Hale in Bayonetta 3) claimed that the reason she did not reprise her role was because she was offered only $4,000 for the part, and urged fans to boycott the game's release, prompting responses from various parties involved. Series creator Hideki Kamiya called her statements "untrue, sad and deplorable" and temporarily deactivated his Twitter account after arguing with and blocking fans over his comments. Hale and other actors expressed support for fair compensation for actors while urging fans to keep an open mind about the work put into the game. PlatinumGames issued a statement themselves asking people to refrain from disrespecting Hale or anybody else involved with the series.

However, the story took a turn when Bloomberg released their own report on the controversy three days later. According to the report, PlatinumGames had planned to rehire Taylor with a payment range between $3,000 and $4,000 per recording session for five sessions, which was above the minimum SAG-AFTRA union rates. Taylor had requested a six-figure payment and royalties instead, and refused an offer to make a cameo for the fee of one session once Hale was cast. After it was published, Taylor claimed on Twitter that the report was a lie, but in the process of explaining why, she ended up contradicting her original claims by confirming two key details from the report. She now claimed Platinum's initial offer to her was $10,000, before later being offered an additional $5,000 after she reached out to Kamiya. She also stated that she did not hear back from Platinum for eleven months after this, before being given a final offer of $4,000 to "voice some lines". This means she had actually been offered upwards of $15,000 to reprise the role, and that the final offer of $4,000 was for a cameo. Taylor appeared to have done all of this under the incorrect belief that Bayonetta was a massive franchise with a net worth of $450 million excluding merchandise sales, resulting in a wave of fan backlash against her for this misconception and for lying by omission to start a controversy.