The creator of Rick and Morty and voice actor of both Rick and Morty, Justin Roiland, has been stuck in controversy this year. With uncomfortable messages revealed between him and a minor and an upcoming domestic violence court date, Adult Swin severed ties with Roiland and booted him from the show.
However, the domestic violence charge has been dismissed, and now folks are wondering what's happening. So, in this article, we'll tell you everything you need to know about what's going on with Justin Roiland and Rick and Morty.
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Justin Roiland Domestic Violence Charges
The story here is that Justin Roiland was charged with one felony count of domestic battery with corporal injury and one felony count of false imprisonment by menace, violence, fraud and/or deceit. He plead not guilty back in 2020, but recently, the case was dismissed.
Not many specific details about the case have been revealed, but the basic idea is that an ex-partner of Roiland brought allegations of domestic abuse against the actor in an attempt, according to Roiland, to cancel him. Considering the case was dismissed, it seems like the claims didn't hold much water, but it's hard to say what exactly happened without more information.
According to the Orange County District Attorney's office, the case was dismissed "for lack of sufficient evidence to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt as a result of additional information that came to light in the investigation." Naturally, this could well mean that Roiland was completely innocent, but it could also mean that there simply wasn't enough evidence for a case to be successfully made.
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Roiland's new plan, as it has been reported, is to move forward and focus on his creative work now that the allegations hanging over his head have been resolved. However, it may not be that simple. While the allegations of domestic violence were no doubt concerning, they've been known about for years, and Adult Swim only recently cut ties with Roiland.
Beyond the allegations of domestic abuse, another primary factor in the recent Justin Roiland controversy comes down to messages Roiland sent.
Justin Roiland DMs
Basically, Justin Roiland, as an adult, followed a Twitter user in 2015. This Twitter user, though, was a 16-year-old girl. The leaked DMs between the two showed Roiland acting inappropriately with the minor; although, the DMs didn't seem to go beyond sexual comments.
He reportedly called the minor "jailbait" and made comments like, "Does the FBI follow you around arresting all the men you sleep with?" and encouraged her to start "cam whoring" when she turned 18. Naturally, making comments like this to a 16-year-old girl as a fully-grown adult is not model behavior, but it remains to be seen if it went further than DMs along those lines.
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After the original story broke, more people came forward with stories of Roiland making inappropriate sexual comments in DMs with underage women. Reportedly, he even asked one girl to meet up with him in person and took her to a party where he allegedly pressured her to drink. Of course, though, these accusations have yet to be fully proven with hard evidence.
The long and short of the story, though, is that Roiland has a history of being inappropriate with young women, even if allegations of sexual assault or statutory rape or anything of the like haven't been made. Understandably, this was a big part of why Adult Swim cut contact with Roiland.
In the time since these DMs came to light, many have reflected on some of Roiland's edgier, more perverted jokes in a different light, wondering if they were some sign of an underlying predatory nature, further damaging his reputation. This in conjunction with his domestic violence charge is what got the actor originally canceled, so to speak.
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What's Next For Justin Roiland
This is, once again, unclear. As of now, there has been no news on the Rick and Morty front, meaning that Adult Swim hasn't brought Roiland back on to work on the show after his departure.
While the domestic violence charges were, indeed, serious, and it's probably only good for Roiland's reputation to have those be dismissed, there's still a lot of concern surrounding Roiland. His behavior when it comes to messaging underage female fans is likely enough to keep Roiland from returning to work on Rick and Morty for quite some time.
Perhaps if more is revealed about these interactions and he somehow gets exonerated in some way then he could return to working on Rick and Morty, but short of that, it doesn't seem likely that he'll be back. Though, of course, we'll all have to wait and see what happens.
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