Justin Roiland used his ‘Rick and Morty’ fame to pursue young fans, text messages show

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

Tolstoshev,

UNACCEPTABLE!

jpreston2005,

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.”

Daefsdeda,

If I did what I did as a kid now I would find myself an asshole

JdW,

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?

RagingRobot,

If I remember correctly he asked them first and wasn’t just in their room naked. They just felt they couldn’t say no because he was in a position of power.

Although I think this is a little different because it involves children who may think they know what they are doing but don’t fully understand yet. So a little different

NuPNuA,

Can you cite where CK was accused of that? I’m not saying it didn’t happen, but most of what I saw indicted he asked but the woment felt like they had to say yes.

dangblingus,

What JDW wrote is what he was accused of. I don’t know what else you read that didn’t mention those direct allegations.

aetrix,

I thought he invited the women to his room, and never tried to force them to show up or stay. I’m not trying to defend Louis, the most charitable thing you can say is that it was creepy and weird AF. But If there is more to it, this is the first I’m hearing of it.

dangblingus,

That doesn’t excuse the underage thing.

TranscendentalEmpire,

These guys are likely autistic and lacking the ability to really clue in on social cues.

My wife is autistic, that’s not how autism works. You may be bad at reading social ques, but that doesn’t mean you don’t understand rejection, or that you don’t understand that you shouldn’t be prowling for underaged women. Most of the times its just not picking up inflections of voice, or they don’t know if theyre reading people’s facial expressions correctly.

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

Kinda sounds like youre equivocating powerful old dudes grooming kids to boys will be boys…

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.”

The simple fact that he’s talking to several 16 year old about sex is predatory in and of it’s self.

Maybe its because I’m closer to his age than most people on here, but the thought of chatting up anyone close to 16 years old is fucking gross. I have nothing in common with a sixteen year old girl, he has nothing in common with a sixteen year old girl.

He just a gross asshole, and anyone who defends him because you like the same shitty played out subculture… is also a gross asshole.

Darkncoldbard,

You’re joking… right?

Smoogs,

He is not the first nor is he the last pedo using power who is hiding in plain sight in the animation industry. Bring them all down.

some_guy,

The article says that he waited until they were 18. While I don’t condone his using his celebrity / wealth / power to coerce young women / people into sexual scenarios, he doesn’t appear to be a pedo. Stop diluting the meaning of the word.

Smoogs,

Pedopologist

HellAwaits,

Justin Roiland is a pedophile.

RedBaronHarkonnen,

Hopefully false but plausible so if it is false this might be slander or libel.

Hawk,

I mean, he literally drew a kid sucking an old man’s cock.

“Plausible” is an understatement

RedBaronHarkonnen,

I did not know. Thanks.

ilex,
@ilex@lemmy.world avatar

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.

ilex,
@ilex@lemmy.world avatar

deleted_by_author

    •
    mycatiskai,

    I believe they already replaced his voice actor for Solar Opposites and we don’t yet know how they are going to go with R&M. There were some pretty good impersonators so they could easily keep the voice the same or they could change it completely.

    NigelFrobisher,

    Even cartoons are not safe from enshitification. Creatures bait-and-switch us from free-thinking counter-cultural rebels to sex offenders who are every bit as corrupt as the old status quo we thought they were an antidote to.

    WhyIDie, (edited )

    this entire situation and what Roiland did is shitty, but this doesn’t fall under the definition of enshittification, where corporations make online platforms shittier for the end users to increase profits for shareholders

    eslaf,

    Text messages in this Misinformation age are worth shit. Videos can be fake, where not even professionals can tell the difference and AI is on the rise. All legal charges against him where dropped and the accusators admitted that they made it up.

    chemical_cutthroat,
    @chemical_cutthroat@lemmy.world avatar

    The domestic violence charges against him brought forth by his ex were dropped, the accusations of child abuse and assault have not be dropped and are currently ongoing. As far as I can tell no one has said that they “made it up,” including his ex. The domestic violence charges were dropped due to insufficient evidence, which can be hard to prove 3 years after the fact, when he was acquitted. If you have anything to show something contrary, I’ll gladly read it, but if you don’t, please don’t add your voice to the “misinformation age.”

    doorbook,

    What about the plan tickets and the receipts ?

    eslaf,

    What about no evidence that he did something illegal? He can fly where the fuck and buy and sleep where he wants. That’s no evidence of anything.

    stevedidWHAT,
    @stevedidWHAT@lemmy.world avatar

    No fucking shit what do you these writers think celebrities have been doing since the silver screen came out.

    One last people for the shlubs in the fucking back.

    This Country Runs On Money And Power Period.

    Crashumbc,

    And before that it was, being of a certain “status” with power and wealth.

    SCB,

    This is so QAnon-adjacent as to be laughable

    stevedidWHAT,
    @stevedidWHAT@lemmy.world avatar

    Cute attempt at a gaslight, rich people don’t spend as long in jail as compared to the rest of the world, if they even get time and not just a slap on the wrist that’s facts not some bullshit pizza parlor copy pasta.

    Great job standing up for criminals.

    SCB,

    The elites aren’t drinking kids blood.

    stevedidWHAT,
    @stevedidWHAT@lemmy.world avatar

    Nobody said they were, you’re reeeeeally bad at gaslighting and should probably take up another hobby

    SCB,

    This is not what gaslighting is. Words have actual meanings.

    stevedidWHAT,
    @stevedidWHAT@lemmy.world avatar

    You continue to dodge the point, which is that the rich do not receive the equal and just punishment.

    You continue to press strawman points but because you chose to target QAnon nut jobs, I made that very reasonable jump.

    Best of luck with your Bobert jerk sesh, sycophant.

    SCB,

    It’s wrong to kink-shame. I didn’t kink-shame you over your conspiracy theories. I just informed you that they’re nonsense.

    Copernican,

    Yeah. It’s kind of gross, but whole genres of porn are barely legal 18-20 year olds. Sounds like that’s what he’s into. And he went about it in a very creepy way unlike Leonardo DiCaprio that uses the prestige of the model and hollywood industry.

    lud,

    Sounds like he is into 16 years olds to me.

    Copernican,

    Yeah, but it sounds like he waited until they are 18.

    lud,

    That doesn’t make it much better…

    ThePac,

    Well it makes it legal. So that’s empirically better.

    lud, (edited )

    Well obviously it’s better legally. It’s pretty terrible from a moral standpoint though.

    SCB,

    Legal is significantly better than illegal

    lud,

    Did you read what I wrote below?

    SCB,

    No I read what you wrote above.

    Having read the below now, I do agree with this

    Well obviously it’s better legally. It’s pretty terrible from a moral standpoint though.

    HoustonHenry,

    Oh, so it’s OK then 👎

    SCB,

    Legally, yes.

    CorruptBuddha,

    Fucking an adult, and a teenager are not the same thing.

    RedBaronHarkonnen,

    Yeah. Fucking a 18 year old that is pretending to be 15 is creepy, not criminal.

    Copernican,

    If they are 18 or 19 it is the same thing.

    dangblingus,

    What mentality do you think someone who only chases 18 year old girls has? If the age of consent was lower, they’d go lower.

    Copernican,

    But it’s not lower and he didn’t go lower. I think he’s a creep. Just not sure he’s technically a pedophile or doing anything super illegal based on the article. And being into 18 year olds isn’t that out there. Just look at porn, strip clubs, the model industry, film industry etc… Also, not sure if he only chases 18 year olds. That was just the topic of the article about the 18/early 20s.

    CodexArcanum,

    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!

    Mdotaut801,

    Overrated show, not funny anyway.

    AergisGeist,

    Be careful, we may not be on reddit but there’s a lot of R&M fans from reddit on here

    undeffeined,

    I agree. Tried getting into it but I just can’t stand Rick.

    paholg,

    That’s kind of the point. Rick is like Walter White in Breaking Bad.

    Whorehoarder,

    Being a primarily comedy show, this is very understandable and common. People like different things and different things make us laugh, it’s not like we can control it. It doesn’t say anything about you. I like Rick and Morty, and I even like Friends. I don’t like the office, Seinfeld or Arrested development. So what

    hasnt_seen_goonies,

    Gotta be careful letting your nuance show on the internet. Most people don’t care for it.

    DrDickHandler,

    Show is great and unique on top of being commercially successful. You are yelling at clouds.

    alekwithak,

    It is, but Roiland has very little to do with it aside from voices.

    rab,

    Didn’t this story already come out like a year ago? Adult swim fired him

    Strawberry,

    that story was to do with him being charged with assault and unlawful imprisonment

    Iwasondigg,

    Aww geez, Rick.

    fne8w2ah,

    Danny Masterton 2.0.

    hombre_fundido,

    Also, John Kricfalusi 2.0.

    Serinus,

    I don’t think so. Masterson seems like straight up rape. Roiland seems like a creep. Maybe a groomer, but I don’t know if it’s worth watering down the really horrendous groomers.

    He’s a creep who regularly took advantage of his fame to manipulate young women into sex. And it looks like in at least one the manipulation went both ways.

    He deserves to be fired. He deserves to be known as a creep.

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • random
  • uselessserver093
  • Food
  • [email protected]
  • aaaaaaacccccccce
  • test
  • CafeMeta
  • testmag
  • MUD
  • RhythmGameZone
  • RSS
  • dabs
  • oklahoma
  • Socialism
  • KbinCafe
  • TheResearchGuardian
  • SuperSentai
  • feritale
  • KamenRider
  • All magazines
    •