After Justin Roiland was cleared of domestic violence charges in March, 11 young women and nonbinary people have now come forward with screenshots of messages they’d exchanged online with the Rick and Morty co-creator, according to a new report by NBC News. Of those 11 people, nine claim Roiland made the conversation sexual, at times leading to assault; three claim they were as young as 16 when they began communication.
These people also shared pictures, videos, social media posts, emails, plane tickets, and Uber receipts with NBC News — spanning from 2013 to 2022 — to corroborate their claims that Roiland had pursued inappropriate communication with them. Many were Rick and Morty fans who Roiland had found via social media. He would often begin initial conversations by asking people their age, if they were single, and if they were “into girls.” Three people who were under 18 said Roiland would continue to message them months or years later until they had turned 18, while he was in his 30s at the time.
Two of the 11 people said they connected with Roiland through Tinder. One woman from Boston, 20 at the time, matched with Roiland while his was in town for a convention; after he bought her dinner, drinks, and some clothes, he invited her back to his hotel room, where she said he forced her to perform oral sex on him. Multiple people said Roiland had invited them to parties he hosted, having even flown one woman to his house in Los Angeles, where he encouraged her to drink heavily before coercing her into group sex with him and another woman.
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Two women recalled exchanging disconcerting messages with Roiland, though they didn’t meet in person. One matched with him on Tinder when she was 18 and still in high school. She claims he asked her about her plans that night, but declined to meet with him because she had to babysit the next morning. Another woman recalled Roiland messaging her to ask if she had a boyfriend. When she told him that she wasn’t interested in men, he responded: “Ohhh!! You’re not into guys! That’s kind of cool,” adding that he had “an amazing girlfriend.” “You’d like her if you’re into girls. Unless that’s not what you meant haha (sorry).”
News broke in January that Roiland was charged with felony domestic violence and false imprisonment related to a 2020 incident. A few weeks later, Adult Swim cut ties with him and announced his voice roles of Rick and Morty would be recast. Hulu followed suit one day later, dropping Roiland from his series Solar Opposites and Koala Man.
If you or someone you know has been impacted by sexual misconduct, you can reach out for support:
RAINN Hotline
1-800-656-HOPE (4673)
http://www.rainn.org
Crisis Text Line
SMS: Text “HERE” to 741-741
http://www.facebook.com/crisistextline (chat support)
