Posted in: Adult Swim, Hulu, Rick and Morty, TV | Tagged: Adult Swim, dan harmon, Justin Roiland, rick and morty

Report: Justin Roiland Used Rick and Morty Fame to Pursue Fans

NBC News reports (based on interviews with 11 individuals) that Justin Roiland used his Rick and Morty fame to lure young fans for years.

As Hulu's Solar Opposites and Adult Swim's Rick and Morty soldier on with new voice actors replacing the co-creator, NBC News has gone live with an exclusive report claiming that Justin Roiland used his fame to pursue young fans. The newly-released report is based on interviews with 11 women & nonbinary people "who shared thousands of messages with Roiland from 2013 to 2022," with nine individuals claiming that Roiland "turned the exchanges sexual" – and three of them claiming they were 16 years old at the time when they began communicating with Roiland. In addition, one individual alleges that Roiland "sexually assaulted" her while on a date, while another claimed that "Roiland took advantage of her" and that the incident "left her mentally traumatized." Along with text messages, NBC News adds that the 11 individuals also offered pictures, videos, social media posts, emails, and other items to help corroborate their claims.

Back in January, the news hit that Roiland was charged with one felony count of domestic battery with corporal injury & one felony count of false imprisonment by menace, violence, fraud, and/or deceit. Not long after, Adult Swim, Squanch Games, Disney & 20th TV Animation cut ties with Roiland. In March, we learned that the domestic violence charges against him were dismissed "as a result of having insufficient evidence to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt," said Kimberly Edds, spokeswoman for the Orange County District Attorney's Office. But for the shows that had taken action, Roiland's status didn't change. As for those who spoke for the report, NBC News says that most of the interviewees came forward after the news about Roiland hit back in January – with seven individuals having previously posted screencaps of the exchanges with Roiland online (and sharing "additional message history and screen recordings of their messages, or otherwise showed that Roiland had followed them on social media or shared pictures with him to back up the authenticity of the messages").

One individual who spoke with NBC News was Janna Waters, who is nonbinary. Waters claims that they were 16 years old and in high school at the time when 35-year-old Roiland began communicating with them in 2016. "At first, I really thought this guy wanted to be my friend, and I really needed friends at the time," Waters shared during a phone interview with NBC News (while also offering screecaps of their exchanges over the years to verify their story). "He was a grown man, I was a teenage girl." Another individual, Veronika Sweeney, explained that she came forward with her allegations after seeing in the press that what she was experiencing was apparently part of a larger pattern when it came to how Roiland allegedly operated. "Seeing all of them compounded with the sheer number of girls who have come out, and some were underage, that's why I posted my DMs," Sweeney explained. "What's concerning is the pattern of behavior." Looking at the claims and alleged corroborating proof collectively, NBC News reporter Kat Tenbarge and the team offered what they claim is a pattern to how Roiland would approach "similar conversations with various women at the same time" – writing:

Roiland would sometimes initiate a conversation that would start with him responding to questions or praise about "Rick and Morty" or making small talk. He would sometimes apologize for being drunk or too forward as he moved the conversations toward asking for sexual photos or to meet up. He said multiple times that he didn't mean to come off as creepy and didn't have bad intentions before asking for photos and meetups again.

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.

Andrew Brettler, a lawyer representing Roiland, pushed back on the allegations in the piece in a letter to NBC News. Noting that some of them were previously posted online, Brettler called the claims "false and defamatory."

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