674
submitted 2 years ago by deconstruct@lemm.ee to c/news@lemmy.world

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

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] popemichael@lemmy.sdf.org 55 points 2 years ago

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

[-] Pillarist@lemmy.world 36 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

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 27 points 2 years ago

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

[-] RufusFirefly@lemmy.world 5 points 2 years ago

Or a successful politician

[-] iegod@lemm.ee 6 points 2 years ago

I contend it's not that it's less of a priority but rather we're (as a society) getting better at collecting evidence, identifying un aceptable behaviour, and taking people seriously when they present an accusation. I firmly believe humans have done and do worse all the time.

[-] Pillarist@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago

I agree, actually. It's actually unreasonable to think people were any better or worse before, there's always good and bad... The difference is what's accepted by the rest of us. Great response, I appreciate it!

[-] Aux@lemmy.world 9 points 2 years ago

Everyone is doing that. That's the whole point of being famous.

[-] cantstopthesignal@sh.itjust.works -5 points 2 years ago

Women DM famous people all the time and randomly fuck them. I personally some that have done it. They are just like meet me at this hotel.

[-] bitsplease@lemmy.ml 14 points 2 years ago

Which there's absolutely nothing wrong with, provided both parties are over 18

No one is upset that he fucked fans, there upset that he at least tried to fuck underaged fans.

Frankly if you don't see a difference, I'm scared for you

[-] DarthBueller@lemmy.world 4 points 2 years ago

Plenty of folks arguing now that literally any imbalance of power is unacceptable -- I've heard people argue that it is also not time-limited. So rich people can't fuck poor people, a professor can't ever fuck a former student even if they meet years later at a conference, and don't even think about workplace romance ever again if you are talking about college educated folks. The insane rules mean that you're only allowed to date someone precisely the same as you in every way. These are the same cis het allies that helped alienate and target the trans community through absolute absurdity.

[-] Aux@lemmy.world -1 points 2 years ago

Oh muricans... Have to be 18 to fuck and have to be 21 to drink. The hell is wrong with you, prudes?

[-] Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago

Found Polanski's account.

[-] ctobrien84@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago

You're only just now wondering this?!

this post was submitted on 13 Sep 2023
674 points (95.5% liked)

News

35687 readers
3715 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. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


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


Obvious biased sources will be removed at the mods’ discretion. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted separately but not to the post body. Sources may be checked for reliability using Wikipedia, MBFC, AdFontes, GroundNews, etc.


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. Clickbait titles may be removed.


Posts which titles don’t match the source may be removed. If the site changed their headline, we may ask you to update the post title. Clickbait titles use hyperbolic language and do not accurately describe the article content. When necessary, post titles may be edited, clearly marked with [brackets], but may never be used to editorialize or comment on the content.


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, videos, blogs, press releases, or celebrity gossip will be allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis. Mods may use discretion to pre-approve videos or press releases from highly credible sources that provide unique, newsworthy content not available or possible in another format.


7. No duplicate posts.


If an article has already been posted, it will be removed. Different articles reporting on the same subject are permitted. 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 or news aggregators.


All posts must link to original article sources. You may include archival links in the post description. News aggregators such as Yahoo, Google, Hacker News, etc. should be avoided in favor of the original source link. Newswire services such as AP, Reuters, or AFP, are frequently republished and may be shared from other credible sources.


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 2 years ago
MODERATORS