Roiland’s former fans and dates described disturbing interactions with the animator, with many playing out over texts. One woman said the ‘Rick and Morty’ creator sexually assaulted her, another said she was left ‘traumatized.’ (Warning: This article contains expclicit language.)

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

  • thomcat
    31·
    10 months ago

    The fact that these women and enby folks were underage is like the most important part of the story. Calling underage girls “young” and not correctly calling them underage in the title of the story is called burying the lede.

    Justin Roiland used his ‘Rick and Morty’ fame to pursue young and underage fans, text messages show would have been a better title.

    • pips@lemmy.filmEnglish
      4·
      10 months ago

      For most people, except apparently many in this thread, “young” heavily implies underage. When character limits matter, it’s okay to start by saying “young,” which is accurate, then clarify further in the article.

      • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
        34·
        10 months ago

        Lemmy has an unusually high concentration of people who have an inability to understand context.

        For example, every joke, the top comment is “I don’t understand, can someone please explain?”

        • pips@lemmy.filmEnglish
          3·
          10 months ago

          I tend to give jokes a pass. Humor is often contextual and cultural so some jokes really do require an explanation.

    • SCB@lemmy.world
      1·
      9 months ago

      Per the article, he explicitly did not pursue underage fans, though.

      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.