Rick And Morty co-creator Dan Harmon has addressed the resoundingly fucked behaviour of some of the show’s fans, saying that abuse hurled at some writing staff “fucking sucks.”
Speaking to EW about the misogynistic backlash to the newfound gender balance in the Rick And Morty writing team, Harmon said the doxxing of Jane Becker and Jessica Gao – credited with writing Rickmancing The Stone and Pickle Rick, respectively – is part of “a testosterone-based subculture patting themselves on the back for trolling these women.”
Harmon elaborated on the weird, reprehensible environment that apparently empowered a small sub-set of Rick And Morty fans dissatisfied with those episodes to harass Becker and Gao through info posted on a Reddit thread.
These knobs, that want to protect the content they think they own — and somehow combine that with their need to be proud of something they have, which is often only their race or gender. It’s offensive to me as someone who was born male and white, and still works way harder than them, that there’s some white male trying to further some creepy agenda by ‘protecting’ my work. I’ve made no bones about the fact that I loathe these people.
Outside of the pure dickheadish-ness of those who feel so strongly about an animated show they just have to make use of a writer’s personal details, Harmon said a lot of the anger was based on a misconception of how animated shows are actually made.
I want to scream at my computer: ‘You idiots, we all write the show together!’ If you can tell the difference between one writer and another on a show I’m running I’ve probably gotten so lazy that it hasn’t all been blended and refined in the usual process.
Old mate reiterated they call it the ‘writing room’, not ‘a single staffer’s laptop’, for a very good reason, saying “there’s a bunch of reasons why we don’t accurately reflect how many writers contribute to each episode in the credits.”
Instead of falling into that weird woman-hating hole, we highly recommend you read Harmon’s full discussion of the issue HERE. Also, check Gao’s totally delightful live-tweeting of her fam’s reaction to the very, very good Pickle Rick, right here:
Ok, I’m showing my mostly 60-something relatives with limited understanding of American pop culture Pickle Rick. Good-bye, World.
— Jessica Gao (@ChairmanGao) September 3, 2017
Aunt: Is the cucumber his grandparent?
— Jessica Gao (@ChairmanGao) September 3, 2017
No one is happy about the rat massacre scene
— Jessica Gao (@ChairmanGao) September 3, 2017
My mom just randomly turned to me and said, “I understand.” No further explanation.
— Jessica Gao (@ChairmanGao) September 3, 2017
