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 explicit 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

  • DarkGamer@kbin.social
    141·
    11 months ago

    In CA, age of consent is 18. Some of the women and people were 16. So he is a pedophile.

    According to my reading of the article, he would wait to meet said women until they were 18, and I don’t know enough about the law to know if sending sexually charged texts to 16-year-olds counts as a crime in CA. I don’t suspect it does.

    • Redditiscancer789@lemmy.worldEnglish
      51·
      11 months ago

      Why suspect anything when you could just iunno LOOK IT UP?!

      “As noted, sexting with a minor is illegal even between two minors, regardless of whether they gave consent. Under Penal Code 288.2 PC, it’s a crime to send, distribute, or offer, using electronic communication, harmful matter to a minor with the intent to sexually gratify, seduce, or arouse.”

      You know IANAL but that sure as fuck sounds like it’s illegal to me

    • sadreality@kbin.social
      2·
      11 months ago

      all around impropriety, [n]o doubt it.

      but yeah, legally this appears to be rather flimsy, although i thought there were new laws on books for grooming. not sure how they operate tho.