Animator, voice actor and director Justin Roiland, best known for creating the popular animated series ‘Rick and Morty’, has denied all charges of having sexually harassed or molested some of his younger fans, after new allegations were made against him.
Animator, voice actor and director Justin Roiland, best known for creating the popular animated series ‘Rick and Morty’, has denied all charges of having sexually harassed or molested some of his younger fans, after new allegations were made against him.
After being cleared of domestic violence charges in March, a report was gathered by NBC News based on 11 interviews, which stated that the ‘Rick and Morty’ creator while interviewing candidates had shifted their conversations from business, to sexually inappropriate nature, according to Variety.
This was allegedly done over text, email and social media between 2013 and 2022 to apparently both women, and non binary people. Nine of the interviewees allege that Roiland shifted their conversations to be of a sexual nature, with three saying they were 16 years old when they began their correspondences.
Along with giving interviews, the 11 sources in the report provided the outlet with photos, videos, social media posts, emails and receipts that point towards their involvement with Roiland.
These new allegations were made separately, after the recent charges against Roiland were dropped earlier this year, which pertained to allegations of battery and false imprisonment made by an unnamed Jane Doe who was dating Roiland in January 2020 at the time of the claimed incident.
When asked for comment on the allegations made in the September 13 report, Roiland’s lawyer Andrew Brettler directed 'Variety' towards a statement Roiland posted on X, then known as Twitter, in March after the domestic violence charges were dropped.
Brettler declined to provide a further response to the newer allegations, though NBC News reported that he wrote the outlet a letter calling the allegations “false and defamatory.”
Among the allegations was an incident of forced oral sex with a 20-year-old woman. The woman alleged that, after exchanging messages on Tinder in March 2019, Roiland bought her two alcoholic beverages despite being told that she was underage, before asking her to perform oral sex on him.
When she said no, the woman said that Roiland allegedly pushed her head towards his crotch and she stopped resisting. She says that she related the events to a friend over the phone immediately afterwards, which NBC News verified with the anonymous friend.
The report also noted that messages were filed referencing Roiland referred to two different people as “jailbait” due to their being 16 years old, and a message where a 16-year-old girl who expressed interest in livestreaming as a video gamer, to which Roiland responded,
“Then once you turn 18, you just start cam wh*****.” Another woman said that Roiland told her she would like his girlfriend if she was “into girls.”
One person said she attended a party with Roiland where he offered them alcohol despite that they were underage and reluctant to drink, and that they left after Roiland asked them to kiss a woman he had invited.