Danny DeVito has no idea what Pokémon is

Since its trailer premiered in January, fans have campaigned for famed character actor Danny DeVito to lend his voice to Great Detective Pikachu: The Birth of a New Duo, the adventure game spinoff starring a deep-voiced version of the Pokémon. In a recent appearance at the Paley Center in Los Angeles, however, the It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia star quickly dashed that hope.

Over the weekend, Jonathan Bilski, who runs the Things to Do in L.A. blog, spoke on behalf of DeVito's Pokémon-loving fans during a live panel with the It's Always Sunny cast. According to his account of the event, he asked DeVito during an audience Q&A session if the actor will star as the titular role in Detective Pikachu, should it come stateside.

The Paley Center live-tweeted DeVito's response:

Audience Q:Will Danny DeVito voice the Detective Pikachu videogame? Danny says "No" and asks what it is, "What the F is Pokemon?" #PaleyLive

— Paley Center (@paleycenter) April 2, 2016

While DeVito claims to have no knowledge of the massively popular, 20-year-old franchise, that the Change.org petition rooting to get him in the game has yet to meet its goal of 50,000 signers likely doesn't help matters.

Fewer than 2,000 supporters are still needed to get the petition sent over to Game Freak and Nintendo of America. In case you can't quite imagine DeVito in the role, fans have cobbled together the helpful video below. Detective Pikachu has yet to be confirmed for a Western release, either way.