Adult Swim has today announced that co-creator of Rick and Morty Justin Roiland has been dumped after being charged with felony domestic abuse.
“Adult Swim has ended its association with Justin Roiland,” the network said in a statement posted on their social media channels.
“Rick and Morty will continue. The talented and dedicated crew are hard at work on Season 7.”
— Rick and Morty (@RickandMorty) January 24, 2023
While the 41-year-old has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial, he’s been charged with corporal injury and false imprisonment by menace, fraud, violence or deceit.
For those not playing Judge Judy at home, this essentially means that Roiland has been accused of physically assaulting and restraining a woman that he dated in 2020. Fucking yikes, dude.
But Adult Swim dropping him is a huge move for the company. Rick and Morty is one of the most successful television shows that Adult Swim has ever produced, and Roiland is a key player in this. He not only serves as a co-writer and executive producer, but he also voices the titular characters, Rick Sanchez and his grandson Morty Smith.
It’s expected that his roles will be recast, which will mean that season 7 will look — and sound — very different to its predecessors.
The show received a huge 70-episode order in 2018, which means that the show will be running until season 10 at the very least. Co-creator Dan Harmon will take the reigns as lone showrunner, however, Roiland will still be credited as co-creator.
But there’s been no comment as to the fate of his other projects, including Hulu’s Solar Opposites, where he is a co-creator and again, the voice for its main character.
The move has the internet hypothesising about what the future of Rick and Morty will look like, especially when it comes to voicing.
How I imagine Rick and Morty Season 7 Premiere Episode will sound like: https://t.co/JU86wpzG9f pic.twitter.com/sWJXPeKnUb
— datboichuy (@datboichuy) January 24, 2023
It’s also prompted people to revisit some of the, uh… more disturbing scenes from the show in a different light.
“I can’t watch this episode anymore, this scene thoroughly creeps me out,” one user commented.
https://twitter.com/vice2loose/status/1614732969079349252
But it gets worse.
Since Roiland’s charges have come to light, many have taken to the internet to level other disturbing accusations at Roiland. This allegedly includes disturbing conversations with minors, including allegedly referring to one as “jailbait”.
https://twitter.com/MartyAmericaUSA/status/1614708938011774976
Other people had also come forward and alleged that Roiland has sexually inappropriate conversations with them, labelling him a “fucking insane creep”.
This was literally his response to me telling him about my childhood sexual trauma. At the time he was drunk and we were just getting to know each other. In context with all the other information about him out there now – yes he is a fucking insane creep pic.twitter.com/5r4v5CQOAG
— arlo 👽 (@arlocado) January 12, 2023
It’s worth mentioning that these stories have not been verified, and PEDESTRIAN.TV isn’t suggesting that Roiland is guilty of any crime.
Roiland faces up to seven years in prison if he’s convicted. He’s expected to return back to court in April, but a trial date hasn’t been confirmed yet.
If you’d like to speak to someone about domestic violence, please call the 1800 Respect hotline on 1800 737 732 or chat online. Under 25? You can reach Kids Helpline at 1800 55 1800 or chat online.
