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

  • maniajack@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Glad to see more reporting on this. The way they swapped out Roiland’s voice in Solar Opposites was absolutely perfect, it really hasn’t lost anything imo.

    • Custoslibera@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I still fucking laugh thinking about it.

      It was so unexpected for me that they would make a change to a hoity British accent and just run with it like nothing happened.

      Brilliantly handled. I’m actually looking forward to how they are going to make the change for Rick and Morty now.

    • samus12345@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      “This is what my voice sounds like now. I don’t care if it’s jarring, get over it. And that Voice Changer Ray had chronotons in it, so this is what I’m gonna sound like in flashbacks too. You got a problem with that? Then tough shit, it’s called science!”

      • theneverfox
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        1 year ago

        Wait, he was voiced by Roland? I thought they were just taking a shot at Roland and Rick and Morty, that’s 10x funnier