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submitted 1 year ago by deconstruct@lemm.ee to c/news@lemmy.world

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

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[-] starman2112@sh.itjust.works 212 points 1 year ago

"Young" could be misinterpreted as 18. "Underage" is the right word.

[-] detalferous@lemm.ee 90 points 1 year ago

Yeah, this story needs way more precision than it has.

"Were 16 when they started texting him". Ok, well how old were they written the allegations occurred, and what is he alleged to have done?

[-] DarkGamer@kbin.social 42 points 1 year ago

Seems like he waited until they were 18 before meeting them, although he would send sexually-charged texts to women as young as 16.

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.

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[-] CarbonatedPastaSauce@lemmy.world 158 points 1 year ago

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.

[-] lemmylommy@lemmy.world 84 points 1 year ago

Not a pedo, just a regular rapist. Talk about low bars.

[-] CarbonatedPastaSauce@lemmy.world 141 points 1 year ago

Don't mistake my comment as a defense of him as a person. He's been accused of domestic violence, forced oral sex, and taking advantage of intoxicated women under the drinking age. Despite him getting off on the DV charge, where there's smoke, there's fire. He's obviously a pretty terrible human being.

I just don't like people throwing around 'pedo' unjustly, because it waters it down and takes away the impact when used against even worse monsters.

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[-] negativeyoda@lemmy.world 29 points 1 year ago
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[-] treefrog@lemm.ee 24 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

And continued for years is the key.

He made sexually explicit comments to minors for years. And solicited pictures? That's solicitation of child pornography

The guys a pedo. Rather or not he gets charged with something related to under age girls, we'll see.

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Man, why’d he have to be such a fuckin’ gross creep? Why couldn’t he just have been creative and weird and depressed?

[-] willis936@lemmy.world 46 points 1 year ago

If you add funny to that list you get Dan Harmon.

[-] kbotc@lemmy.world 62 points 1 year ago

Dan Harmon was super problematic in his own way. His difference was he apologized to the people he wronged in a way that they accepted, and seems to have changed his behavior. His change in behavior seems to be part of what left Justin out to dry as Dan no longer came to work intoxicated, but Roiland just kept doing it.

[-] gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 22 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Well the subtype of funny that Rolland had (and Harmon still has to a degree) had was from being creative and weird and sad. Smart, dark, absurdist, existentialist humor. I think that’s a pretty reasonable way to roll it up.

Edit: crossed the names up, derp

[-] Iwasondigg@lemmy.one 55 points 1 year ago

Aww geez, Rick.

[-] popemichael@lemmy.sdf.org 54 points 1 year ago

This really has me wondering how many people are doing the same thing but haven't been caught.

[-] Pillarist@lemmy.world 37 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

A person who otherwise wouldn't be noticed suddenly getting attention they never received thrown at them can easily abuse it if they don't control their behavior with a moral compass, which is becoming less and less a priority. When something feels good, many indulge. When you overindulge, you justify. When you get good at justifying, you can make anything okay in your head. If you don't have a line drawn, it's wild how far people will go... he went way too far and he should endure the consequences.

[-] agent_flounder@lemmy.one 29 points 1 year ago

I think getting to be super famous is much easier if you have no moral compass to begin with.

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[-] maniajack@lemmy.world 45 points 1 year ago

Glad to see more reporting on this. The way they swapped out Roiland's voice in Solar Opposites was absolutely perfect, it really hasn't lost anything imo.

[-] Custoslibera@lemmy.world 28 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I still fucking laugh thinking about it.

It was so unexpected for me that they would make a change to a hoity British accent and just run with it like nothing happened.

Brilliantly handled. I’m actually looking forward to how they are going to make the change for Rick and Morty now.

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[-] chaogomu@kbin.social 43 points 1 year ago

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.

[-] Fades@lemmy.world 33 points 1 year ago

Fucking disgusting, I will never understand people like this.

[-] Hadriscus@lemm.ee 22 points 1 year ago

That's a man in a position of power

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[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 29 points 1 year ago

I never liked him much, but I had no idea he was a pedo.

[-] DarkGamer@kbin.social 31 points 1 year ago

According to the article he would text underage women but would refuse to meet them until they were 18. Seems like he was operating within the law.

[-] chaogomu@kbin.social 27 points 1 year ago

That's called grooming, it's arguably worse.

[-] ashok36@lemmy.world 74 points 1 year ago

I'm pretty sure that having sex with underage girls is worse but that's just me.

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[-] dethb0y@lemmy.world 27 points 1 year ago

I just assume anyone remotely famous is some kind of foul person behind the scenes.

[-] Tenthrow@lemmy.world 24 points 1 year ago

What a cringe lord.

[-] jpreston2005@lemmy.world 22 points 1 year ago

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."

[-] JdW@lemmy.world 22 points 1 year ago

I think this is more of a case like Louie C.K

You tell me you say that the guy who literally waited for women in their dressingroom naked and started to masterbute as they walked in was just "lacking the ability to really clue in on social cues".

I don't know anymore with these apologists like you. Are you trolling or really this misguided?

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[-] Velociraptor@lemmy.world 21 points 1 year ago

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.

[-] fne8w2ah@lemmy.world 19 points 1 year ago
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[-] CodexArcanum@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago

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!

[-] ilex@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago

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.

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this post was submitted on 13 Sep 2023
688 points (100.0% liked)

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