Justin Roiland used his ‘Rick and Morty’ fame to pursue young fans, text messages show
Justin Roiland used his ‘Rick and Morty’ fame to pursue young fans, text messages show
Roiland’s former fans and dates described disturbing interactions with the animator, with many playing out over texts. One woman said the ‘Rick and Morty’ creator sexually assaulted her, another said she was left ‘traumatized.’ (Warning: This article contains explicit language.)
In the years following the 2013 debut of Adult Swim’s cartoon phenomenon “Rick and Morty,” its star and co-creator Justin Roiland became a titan of the animation and video game industry and a rock star of youth counterculture. His artistic style and caricatures became ubiquitous in cannabis culture, and his career expanded into producing other animated series, creating NFTs and leading a virtual reality gaming studio. In 2017, a “Rick and Morty” collaboration with McDonald’s led to such a viral frenzy that police had to be called to at least two locations.
But as he partied with Los Angeles’ superstars and traveled the country for conventions, he also found he could use his fame to strike up conversations and develop relationships with young fans, including some who were underage. This is according to interviews with 11 women and nonbinary people who shared thousands of messages with Roiland from 2013 to 2022 — with nine of the people saying he turned the exchanges sexual. Of those nine people, three said they were 16 when they started talking to Roiland. To corroborate their stories, the 11 women and nonbinary people also shared pictures, videos, social media posts, emails, and plane ticket and Uber receipts with NBC News.
Warning: Lengthy and graphic details
From the article, really buried: "Roiland usually asked people how old they were, if they were single, and if they were “into girls.” In three cases, when the person said they were under 18, Roiland would message them again months or years later. Those three conversations started with people who said they were 16 at the time, and continued for years, until they were 18 and older."
After reading the whole article it doesn't seem like he did anything sexual with anyone under 18. My takeaway is that he's a creep, abuses his fame and power (part of a big club there), he's manipulative, and he plies underage people with alcohol to get them to sleep with him, but it appears he's not a pedo. Or at least smart enough not to get caught.
Aww geez, Rick.
Grooming is more than just convincing a minor to not tell their parents.
The actual definition is grooming a minor for a later sexual relationship (not fully restricted to them still being a minor)
As with any scummy/horrible behavior, there are levels of scum/horribleness.
What a cringe lord.
Imagine being so lucky that you become a household name off of animation of all things but then deciding to do exactly what John K did. At least Rick and Morty won't go the way of Ren and Stimpy. Not yet, anyway.
He knew he could take advantage of the fans. What an ass.
I just watched a great documentary on YouTube about Ren and Stimpy and it's fucking sad how similar the story with John K is as well. I should think there's some obvious lessons about not giving immature manbabies unlimited power in here, but it'd be nice if somebody actually learned them!
The summary did that thing like when FBI agents find a 800 TB harddrive containing a possibly CSAM photo and the media says they found 800 TB of CSAM.
Did he take a conversation with a sub-18 year old to a sexual place? (or not excuse himself from an email gone sexual with someone under age?) I literally mean yes he did take it sexual or no he did not take it sexual or It was not clear from the messages.
There is a difference from acknowledging sex is a thing and propositioning a teenager for sex, but at this point, I don't care. If you are a man or a woman, etc., just devalue the experience of younger people and don't talk to them. They'll be fine with it eventually.
JFC, you know it's bad when you use GPT to summarize the article and it thinks you are violating policy.
Something about people in power or fame that brings out the worst in people. Hope this dude rots in prison and goes broke.
not gonna lie, after reading the article, there's not a lot there. I understand that people can be put in positions where they feel like they "have" to say yes, but they literally don't? I think this is more of a case like Louie C.K. These guys are likely autistic and lacking the ability to really clue in on social cues. Guys that have always been unattractive and lacking in attention from women, suddenly has all the attention of women! So they do dumb stuff, that they should have learned not to do when they were young, but again, nerds gonna nerd, and nerds have not always been celebrated like they are today. I think he just going through a slutty phase because he finally can. from his texts he doesn't come off as a predator, but as a person who's so used to being told "no," that he doesn't know what to do with himself or how to act once they started saying "yes."
he's insane in the membrane.
UNACCEPTABLE!
It's always the ones you most suspect.
I'm gonna get downvoted for this, but it's always funny to me how modern society "forgets" that men are literally biologically programmed to be attracted to girls are soon as they start looking "old enough".
And guess what, that doesn't magically happen when they turn 18, it often happens at a younger age.
And no, that doesn't mean men should flirt with and date young girls. I'm just trying to say it's biology. It's science. Facts even.