this post was submitted on 13 Sep 2023
622 points (95.6% liked)

News

22890 readers
4783 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

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

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] starman2112@sh.itjust.works 198 points 1 year ago (7 children)

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

[–] detalferous@lemm.ee 83 points 1 year ago (2 children)

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?

[–] Pips@lemmy.film 14 points 1 year ago (7 children)

Literally in the second paragraph of the article and the summary at the top of this post.

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.

The article then goes on to discuss his conversations with underage fans. The article uses "young" because his conversations with of-age but teenaged fans were also bad.

load more comments (7 replies)
load more comments (5 replies)
[–] CarbonatedPastaSauce@lemmy.world 137 points 1 year ago (10 children)

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.

[–] treefrog@lemm.ee 17 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.

load more comments (9 replies)
[–] gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 108 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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 42 points 1 year ago (2 children)

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

[–] kbotc@lemmy.world 59 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 21 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

[–] Soundhole@lemm.ee 85 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Of those nine people, three said they were 16 when they started talking to Roiland.

That sick son of a bitch! There needs to be repercussions.

his career expanded into producing other animated series, creating NFTs and leading a virtual reality gaming studio.

GET A ROPE!

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] popemichael@lemmy.sdf.org 53 points 1 year ago (4 children)

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

[–] Pillarist@lemmy.world 33 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

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 25 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (3 replies)
[–] Iwasondigg@lemmy.one 50 points 1 year ago

Aww geez, Rick.

[–] chaogomu@kbin.social 40 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 26 points 1 year ago (8 children)

Fucking disgusting, I will never understand people like this.

load more comments (8 replies)
[–] Tenthrow@lemmy.world 25 points 1 year ago

What a cringe lord.

[–] dethb0y@lemmy.world 23 points 1 year ago (4 children)

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

[–] ChaoticEntropy@feddit.uk 15 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

No, Paul Rudd, nooo! You're too pure!

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] Velociraptor@lemmy.world 19 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.

[–] xc2215x@lemmy.world 18 points 1 year ago

He knew he could take advantage of the fans. What an ass.

[–] rab@lemmy.ca 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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

[–] Strawberry@lemmy.blahaj.zone 20 points 1 year ago

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

[–] CodexArcanum@lemmy.world 16 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 16 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.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] fne8w2ah@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago (2 children)
[–] hombre_fundido@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Also, John Kricfalusi 2.0.

[–] Serinus@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago

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.

[–] Quexotic@infosec.pub 9 points 1 year ago

JFC, you know it's bad when you use GPT to summarize the article and it thinks you are violating policy.

[–] blazera@kbin.social 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Whys it talking about 11 people? The hell are the other 8 alleging?

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] stevedidWHAT@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago (9 children)

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.

load more comments (9 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›