Justin Roiland arrested for domestic battery and false imprisonment

[Jman]

I’m presenting this without comment, but fuck him if it’s true.

Edited January 12, 2023 by Jman

[PokeNirvash]

Zaslav cancelling Rick & Morty: The Anime in three, two...

[3ngag3]

Good thing there's a co-creator, otherwise the series would probably get cancelled outright.

[viperxmns]

Justin Roiland recording voice lines over a prison phone

[Jman]

1 hour ago, 3ngag3 said:

Good thing there's a co-creator, otherwise the series would probably get cancelled outright.

It still might.  Recasting Morty might be a bridge too far.

Solar Opposites is probably done without a second thought though.

[Toonamiguy321]

1 hour ago, 3ngag3 said:

Good thing there's a co-creator, otherwise the series would probably get cancelled outright.

Main voice actor though. You can’t just hire Tracey Morgan every time one of your VAs makes a social oopsie that tanks their career. 
 

They will probably let him get away with a formal apology and some community work though, because Rick and Morty isn’t a cornerstone of Adult Swim, it’s the main support beam. 

[Daos]

Hah yeah Tuca and Bertie can fuck off, but they're not going to take the high ground with Rick and Morty. At most they'll recast a soundalike.

[EmpressAngel]

1 hour ago, Jman said:

It still might.  Recasting Morty might be a bridge too far.

Solar Opposites is probably done without a second thought though.

He's actually both Rick and Morty, so they'd have to recast both title characters. The show's his baby, though; I imagine it'd be damn near impossible to completely cut him out of it.

[Jman]

3 minutes ago, EmpressAngel said:

He's actually both Rick and Morty, so they'd have to recast both title characters. The show's his baby, though; I imagine it'd be damn near impossible to completely cut him out of it.

This is tough.  He may be too big to fail.

On the other hand, last month Zaslav was desperately trying to cancel American Dad only to be told the contract wouldn’t let him.

[NewBluntsworth]

We all knew this was coming. 

[Daos]

1 hour ago, Toonamiguy321 said:

Main voice actor though. You can’t just hire Tracey Morgan every time one of your VAs makes a social oopsie that tanks their career. 
 

They will probably let him get away with a formal apology and some community work though, because Rick and Morty isn’t a cornerstone of Adult Swim, it’s the main support beam. 

OOPSIE I SAID A RACISM!

[OwlChemist81]

5 hours ago, Jman said:

I’m presenting this without comment, but fuck him if it’s true.

To be fair, this really sounds more like an S&M night gone horribly wrong. Did she just forget the safety phrase was "Pickle Rick!?"

[Toonamiguy321]

1 hour ago, Daos said:

OOPSIE I SAID A RACISM!

Comparison wise, if the allegations against Roiland end up being true and he goes down for this, that’s a much bigger offense than a couple poor taste social media posts. 
 

Squids had the benefit of being in its final season after a solid run, so it wasn’t as difficult of a choice to do a gag tier recast. It will be interesting to see how AS handles the possibility in their bread and butter show. As others have said, Roiland has gotten a little too big to fail, and the future of the entirety of AS rests on his and Hamons shoulders. 

[atomicinumatt]

Dana white last week and now Justin Roiland this week?!

[Daos]

1 hour ago, Toonamiguy321 said:

Comparison wise, if the allegations against Roiland end up being true and he goes down for this, that’s a much bigger offense than a couple poor taste social media posts. 
 

Squids had the benefit of being in its final season after a solid run, so it wasn’t as difficult of a choice to do a gag tier recast. It will be interesting to see how AS handles the possibility in their bread and butter show. As others have said, Roiland has gotten a little too big to fail, and the future of the entirety of AS rests on his and Hamons shoulders. 

Nah remember when Chris Brown went nuts on Rhianna? 

Well here's a delightful puff piece on Chris Brown and his daughter from just a few days ago. https://hollywoodlife.com/2023/01/09/chris-brown-daughter-lovely-1st-birthday-party-photos/

Saying a racist word get's you in wayyyyyy more trouble careerwise than beating the shit out of a woman.

Floyd Mayweather slapped women around all the time, no one seemed to care.

"Since 2002 Mayweather has been accused of violence against women with alarming frequency. He pleaded guilty in two of those incidents, and in another he was convicted only to have the charges dismissed four years later. The most recent incident, in which he hit his ex-girlfriend in front of two of their children at 5 a.m. in 2010, resulted in a 90-day prison sentence."

So yeah, he can beat a slappin women around rap. If he had said a racist word he'd have to step down from the show.

Remember, saying a bad word is worse than this.

 

[Toonamiguy321]

1 hour ago, Daos said:

Nah remember when Chris Brown went nuts on Rhianna? 

Well here's a delightful puff piece on Chris Brown and his daughter from just a few days ago. https://hollywoodlife.com/2023/01/09/chris-brown-daughter-lovely-1st-birthday-party-photos/

Saying a racist word get's you in wayyyyyy more trouble careerwise than beating the shit out of a woman.

Floyd Mayweather slapped women around all the time, no one seemed to care.

"Since 2002 Mayweather has been accused of violence against women with alarming frequency. He pleaded guilty in two of those incidents, and in another he was convicted only to have the charges dismissed four years later. The most recent incident, in which he hit his ex-girlfriend in front of two of their children at 5 a.m. in 2010, resulted in a 90-day prison sentence."

So yeah, he can beat a slappin women around rap. If he had said a racist word he'd have to step down from the show.

Remember, saying a bad word is worse than this.

 

I agree we are going to be seeing some major profit fueled hypocrisy from AS as this unfolds. Their current refusal to make a statement shows they are already sweating and don’t know which side they want to get on yet. If it was anyone else, they wouldn’t have hesitated to put immediate distance between them. 
 

[atomicinumatt]

7 minutes ago, Toonamiguy321 said:

I agree we are going to be seeing some major profit fueled hypocrisy from AS as this unfolds. Their current refusal to make a statement shows they are already sweating and don’t know which side they want to get on yet. If it was anyone else, they wouldn’t have hesitated to put immediate distance between them. 
 

Interesting to see how [as] manuevers around this. I do not see them axing their bread and better or firing Roiland, at least it is probably their least likely action. 

I believe the court documents for the case are still sealed so the public is still not aware of the specifics. If it is flimsy or gets thrown out, I assume this gets swept under the rug. If he pleads out then he makes apologies and back to business as usual?  

But if convicted then what?

We just do not know the details yet. It really makes sense for people to be quiet until more info comes out I guess.  

[Toonamiguy321]

2 hours ago, atomicinumatt said:

Interesting to see how [as] manuevers around this. I do not see them axing their bread and better or firing Roiland, at least it is probably their least likely action. 

I believe the court documents for the case are still sealed so the public is still not aware of the specifics. If it is flimsy or gets thrown out, I assume this gets swept under the rug. If he pleads out then he makes apologies and back to business as usual?  

But if convicted then what?

We just do not know the details yet. It really makes sense for people to be quiet until more info comes out I guess.  

In sane times, that’s what we would have done. Just wait for the facts and go from there. But this is 2023, we cancel first, ask questions later now. 
 

Right now, AS is probably praying to Black Jesus, Gee Whiz, Ted Nugent, Jimmy, whoever will listen, that this case is flimsy and gets tossed out and they never have to acknowledge this. If they can’t have that, they are hoping he at least didn’t Chris Brown the girl, that way they can have him issue a “heartfelt” apology promising to learn and change, and then hope people forget about this. If it’s really bad and he is convicted, that’s gonna be a tough track to navigate. The R&M fanbase is the kind of people who would riot if he wasn’t fired. 
 

AS has backed themselves into a corner here. They have set a precedent that mean tweets are grounds for firing. If domestic abuse and false imprisonment arent, that’s going to be terrible PR. 

[Jman]

There's no getting around the fact that this is a rough situation, especially if more stuff about Roiland becomes public knowledge.  Twitter has actually pointed out that it was an open secret in the industry that Roiland was a creep for years, and would help his buddy Alex Hirsch (creator of Gravity Falls) hook up with underage girls.  The problem is Roiland has his fingers in a LOT of pies, so it is very easy for him to deflect, apologize, and Adult Swim forget all of this happened to keep the Rick money flowing like Sezuchan sauce from whatever unholy vat McDonalds makes the stuff in.

However, if this goes to trial, or more comes out, the wild card in this race is Zaslav.  Like I said, as part of his slash and burning spree, one of the shows he looked to cancel was American Dad! but he had no way to break the contract Seth MacFarlane had with Warner.  Zaslav, if he was so inclined, could use any trial as a pretense to canceling Rick and Morty and getting out of a very expensive contract.

Of course if he does that, how Adult Swim recovers from a one-two punch in two years of losing Family Guy AND Rick and Morty remains to be seen.  You think things are bad for Toonami?  Comedy would be in an even worse spot.

On a personal level - Fuck Roiland and Hirsch if those accusations are true, but on a business level, this either is something both sides due their damndest to deflect, or something that one side will use as an excuse to bounce on a very expensive contract.

Edited January 13, 2023 by Jman

[Jman]

One more thing for reference, these are felony charges, which in the state of California, means that Roiland assaulted the Jane Doe with a weapon.  (Barehanded abuse is apparently just a misdemeanor in the state).  That’s a sentence of 2-6 years in state prison if convicted, with an additional 3 years for the imprisonment felony (which again, in California means threats with a weapon).  That makes things a lot worse if he was using a weapon.

So if this goes to trial, (which I doubt, although he did plead not guilty) all his shows are done.  He’s basically Cosby at that point.

Edited January 13, 2023 by Jman

[PokeNirvash]

Ironic, considering one of his earlier projects...

[CountFrylock]

Mods On The Rick And Morty Sub-Reddit deleted anything to do with this and then made a topic that turned into a rant about "Witch Hunting And Cancel Culture Being To Blame"

 

[Jman]

1 hour ago, CountFrylock said:

Mods On The Rick And Morty Sub-Reddit deleted anything to do with this and then made a topic that turned into a rant about "Witch Hunting And Cancel Culture Being To Blame"

 

This was inevitable.

From a layman’s POV, any ability to view this as a mutual issue the way Dana White and his wife slapping each other was got destroyed when it was a felony charge, meaning a weapon was involved.  Justin was threatening this woman with something lethal, be it a gun, knife, or whatever.  That is not cancel culture.  That’s assault.

Edited January 13, 2023 by Jman

[Daos]

Eh, always remember. It's CA. Crime is basically legal here.

 

[atomicinumatt]

7 hours ago, Toonamiguy321 said:

In sane times, that’s what we would have done. Just wait for the facts and go from there. But this is 2023, we cancel first, ask questions later now. 
 

Right now, AS is probably praying to Black Jesus, Gee Whiz, Ted Nugent, Jimmy, whoever will listen, that this case is flimsy and gets tossed out and they never have to acknowledge this. If they can’t have that, they are hoping he at least didn’t Chris Brown the girl, that way they can have him issue a “heartfelt” apology promising to learn and change, and then hope people forget about this. If it’s really bad and he is convicted, that’s gonna be a tough track to navigate. The R&M fanbase is the kind of people who would riot if he wasn’t fired. 
 

AS has backed themselves into a corner here. They have set a precedent that mean tweets are grounds for firing. If domestic abuse and false imprisonment arent, that’s going to be terrible PR. 

I think it is a case of having to wait til the trial before any action should be taken. He plead not guilty so we will have to wait to get the facts. [as] certainly has backed themselves into a corner now and if Roiland is found guilty and they do not at least fire or ostracize him, they will look like really bad hypocrites. But R&M being cancelled altogether could really be the nail in the coffin for them. 

I am withholding judgment until the trial or more facts come out. If it is true though, he is fucked up. 

1 hour ago, CountFrylock said:

Mods On The Rick And Morty Sub-Reddit deleted anything to do with this and then made a topic that turned into a rant about "Witch Hunting And Cancel Culture Being To Blame"

 

So this is not entirely true, they have a giant megathread pinned.. It seems that they just do not want the sub being brigaded and flooded with shit.

Though they did say "There is lots witch hunting and cancel culture (bad phrasing) folks calling for the show and all related projects to be cancelled coming into the community, it will not be tolerated. Discuss the news, have debates but we will not let this turn into a shitfest of name calling and attacks.", so they are probably neutering some shit. 

It is reddit, after all. But it does not appear that they are really ignoring the fact that this news broke. 

Edited January 13, 2023 by atomicinumatt

[atomicinumatt]

30 minutes ago, Daos said:

Eh, always remember. It's CA. Crime is basically legal here.

 

I miss him

[Blatch]

On 1/12/2023 at 5:39 PM, PokeNirvash said:

Zaslav cancelling Rick & Morty: The Anime in three, two...

Instructions unclear, he cancelled Uzumaki instead. 🥴

I didn't really notice this news when it first happened, but after reading the discussion here, I'm disappointed. I got the Rick and Morty S5 Blu-ray for Christmas, in spite of not having finished Season 4 yet. I was hoping to either watch from where I left off or start it from the beginning, but it looks like that's going to wait at least a little bit. I do think it's a funny show, even in light of the insufferable nature of its fanbase, but it's going to be harder to enjoy it regardless of how this news shakes out.

[Sketch]

Maybe Hirsh wasn’t trying to hook up with teenage girls but Roiland definitely was a creep back then

 

[Daos]

How the hell are you meeting people like this when you're barely about to turn 18? 

I was finishing Highschool and playing video games while this chick was hobnobbing with industry power players and going to fancy parties!

I guess the upside is I wasn't molested.

[atomicinumatt]

1 hour ago, Daos said:

How the hell are you meeting people like this when you're barely about to turn 18? 

I was finishing Highschool and playing video games while this chick was hobnobbing with industry power players and going to fancy parties!

I guess the upside is I wasn't molested.

I had multiple friends like this when I was in high school. 

Just get a good fake and go to all the places those people hang out and party at. It is especially easy if you are a girl. 

Typical star fuckers and groupies.. 

[MasqueradeOverture]

2 hours ago, Daos said:

How the hell are you meeting people like this when you're barely about to turn 18? 

I was finishing Highschool and playing video games while this chick was hobnobbing with industry power players and going to fancy parties!

I guess the upside is I wasn't molested.

Shit's been a thing since the 60's.

[Jman]

My guess is DeMarco and friends are keeping quiet about this until trial.  They don’t want to act until they know how the evidence looks, and even then it’s going to be rough if they choose to recast Roiland, but Nickelodeon has done similar with shows like the Loud House where creep creators were excised from the process.

[Poofy]

[Daos]

Deadline reported “its most recent Season 3 finale delivered Adult Swim’s highest ratings in history and helped the show claim the title of #1 comedy across all of television for 2017 with millennials. Rick and Morty also has become a multi-platform sensation not just on television, but across digital, gaming, livestreaming, retail, and fan experiences.”

NBC News, which first broke the story, described the series as having “spawned a billion-dollar media and merchandising franchise and is one of the most popular adult television comedies.”

Yeahhhh they're gonna pay this chick off. Backroom deal baby!

 

[Jman]

46 minutes ago, Daos said:

Deadline reported “its most recent Season 3 finale delivered Adult Swim’s highest ratings in history and helped the show claim the title of #1 comedy across all of television for 2017 with millennials. Rick and Morty also has become a multi-platform sensation not just on television, but across digital, gaming, livestreaming, retail, and fan experiences.”

NBC News, which first broke the story, described the series as having “spawned a billion-dollar media and merchandising franchise and is one of the most popular adult television comedies.”

Yeahhhh they're gonna pay this chick off. Backroom deal baby!

 

If these were misdemeanor, sure.  Pull a Chris Brown, pretend nothing happened, move on.

But this was assault and false imprisonment with a weapon.  If this goes to trial, I think Zaslav sees his exit strategy and voids the Rick and Morty contract so he can brag to the stockholders about how much money he saved.  

It's rough.  If this goes to trial, though, things will go downhill fast for all involved parties.  Especially the poor Jane Doe, who will probably need to be put in some sort of Witness Protection to escape Reddit weirdos blaming her for threatening their precious show.

[Daos]

Yeah but it's CA. Felonies don't mean shit here.

[Toonamiguy321]

2 hours ago, Daos said:

Deadline reported “its most recent Season 3 finale delivered Adult Swim’s highest ratings in history and helped the show claim the title of #1 comedy across all of television for 2017 with millennials. Rick and Morty also has become a multi-platform sensation not just on television, but across digital, gaming, livestreaming, retail, and fan experiences.”

NBC News, which first broke the story, described the series as having “spawned a billion-dollar media and merchandising franchise and is one of the most popular adult television comedies.”

Yeahhhh they're gonna pay this chick off. Backroom deal baby!

 

Oof, had to go all the way back to season 3 to find a noteworthy success to talk about. 
 

2 hours ago, Jman said:

If these were misdemeanor, sure.  Pull a Chris Brown, pretend nothing happened, move on.

But this was assault and false imprisonment with a weapon.  If this goes to trial, I think Zaslav sees his exit strategy and voids the Rick and Morty contract so he can brag to the stockholders about how much money he saved.  

It's rough.  If this goes to trial, though, things will go downhill fast for all involved parties.  Especially the poor Jane Doe, who will probably need to be put in some sort of Witness Protection to escape Reddit weirdos blaming her for threatening their precious show.

They are felony charges, but none of the details are public yet. I’m sure once Jane Doe gets a 7 figure check in her hand, she will remember some facts about the charges a little differently. We will learn what really happened were just a couple minor misdemeanor things that Roiland can shake off with an apology. False imprisonment? The lock on their house is faulty and doesn’t open unless you jiggle it a little which she forgot at the time. Weapon? She was hysteric and the tears clouded her vision. 

[ben0119]

I cannot stand Rick & Morty and find it obnoxious as hell.  But this still seems like pretty shocking news, and not the way I would want to get rid of the show.

And why the hell is it only a misdemeanor to abuse someone without a weapon in California?

Edited January 15, 2023 by ben0119

[Jman]

6 hours ago, Toonamiguy321 said:

Oof, had to go all the way back to season 3 to find a noteworthy success to talk about. 
 

They are felony charges, but none of the details are public yet. I’m sure once Jane Doe gets a 7 figure check in her hand, she will remember some facts about the charges a little differently. We will learn what really happened were just a couple minor misdemeanor things that Roiland can shake off with an apology. False imprisonment? The lock on their house is faulty and doesn’t open unless you jiggle it a little which she forgot at the time. Weapon? She was hysteric and the tears clouded her vision. 

The former is why I think Zaslav is the wild card in all this.  Does he see an asset he needs to protect, talent that deals with things on their own, or another tax write off he can cut loose?  

[Daos]

"The premier of season six was shown on September 4, 2022, and saw the highest ratings in telecast for women age 18 to 24 and 18 to 34 and non-sports telecast for male viewers age 18 to 24 and 18 to 34. The episode was also the number two most-viewed non-sports program overall for viewers age 18 to 49."

Plus it sells merch. If you sell merch you get rich. 

They'll cut her a check.

Edited January 15, 2023 by Daos

[Toonamiguy321]

5 hours ago, Jman said:

The former is why I think Zaslav is the wild card in all this.  Does he see an asset he needs to protect, talent that deals with things on their own, or another tax write off he can cut loose?  

That just goes to show how bad things are for AS. R&M has slipped hard, yet it’s still miles ahead of anything else in relevance and success. Ending R&M is equivalent to ending Adult Swim. 

[Seight]

10 hours ago, Jman said:

The former is why I think Zaslav is the wild card in all this.  Does he see an asset he needs to protect, talent that deals with things on their own, or another tax write off he can cut loose?  

The long answer is "He might try to protect this asset because he can use it to make money, as opposed to the other assets he has no use for."

The shorter answer is *stares at Ezra Miller* ...they probably ain't cancelling Rick and Morty.

[OwlChemist81]

6 hours ago, Toonamiguy321 said:

That just goes to show how bad things are for AS. R&M has slipped hard, yet it’s still miles ahead of anything else in relevance and success. Ending R&M is equivalent to ending Adult Swim. 

I'd say Toonami is also relevant but it didn't get most of its relevance from [as] with the exceptions of Attack On Titan and Dragon Ball Super.

Beyond that, American Dad and YOLO, maybe?

[Toonamiguy321]

2 hours ago, OwlChemist81 said:

I'd say Toonami is also relevant but it didn't get most of its relevance from [as] with the exceptions of Attack On Titan and Dragon Ball Super.

Beyond that, American Dad and YOLO, maybe?

It was, at a time. That time has long since passed. If TOM was arrested for beating Sara and they cancelled Toonami before next Saturday, nothing would change at adult swim. They would need to paste over 2 1/2 hours of programming on one day. Easy. Anime fans would whine, nobody else would care. They would save a bunch of money on license fees. It would probably end up being a net gain. 
 

You could argue the entire reason AS hasn’t been shut down is purely so Rick and Morty has somewhere to premier once a year. It very quickly eclipsed everything else. American Dad? That would hurt just because it’s their last noteworthy Seth show they use to inflate ratings. Yolo? Haha.

[viperxmns]

Is Primal done? Not aware if s2 was meant to be the end of the series or not

Smiling Friends new season also on horizon

[Toonamiguy321]

11 hours ago, viperxmns said:

Is Primal done? Not aware if s2 was meant to be the end of the series or not

Smiling Friends new season also on horizon

Primal is done. Genndy did say something about making an anthology but I find it extremely unlikely such an expensive project with middling ratings is getting another season in the Zaslav era.

Smiling Friends is certainly popular by word of mouth, but it’s actual ratings were pretty subpar. Comparing Nielson to Nielson, Smiling Friends on the high end did around 250k. Rick and Morty on the low end this year was around 600k. If they lose that powerhouse, none of these other small fries could keep things going.

[Blatch]

On 1/15/2023 at 1:57 PM, Toonamiguy321 said:

That just goes to show how bad things are for AS. R&M has slipped hard, yet it’s still miles ahead of anything else in relevance and success. Ending R&M is equivalent to ending Adult Swim. 

Would that be much of a bad thing, though? Honestly. [as] is a shell of what it used to be, removed of most of its personality and not churning out weird shows like it used to. But paradoxically, even if R&M does get the axe, I think they'll keep the channel around simply because it's a long-lived and familiar brand.

On 1/15/2023 at 8:55 AM, Jman said:

The former is why I think Zaslav is the wild card in all this.  Does he see an asset he needs to protect, talent that deals with things on their own, or another tax write off he can cut loose?  

You've brought up before how he tried to get out of American Dad! in spite of its continued success, but I think that has more to do with it being a show owned by a different company (in this case, Fox). If he tried to get rid of House of the Dragon, an in-house show that is supremely expensive to produce but whose first season had some of the best ratings in the history of HBO, I think that'd be a more fair comparison. Granted, maybe he has and we don't know yet.

Edited January 17, 2023 by Blatch
My first point felt uneven.

[Toonamiguy321]

2 hours ago, Blatch said:

Would that be much of a bad thing, though? Honestly. [as] is a shell of what it used to be, removed of most of its personality and not churning out weird shows like it used to. Personally, even if R&M does get the axe, I think they'll keep the channel around simply because it's a long-lived and familiar brand.

From a quality standpoint, you are correct. AS has been in zombie mode for quite a few years now,. As we saw in 2021 during that brief period when FG left and before KotH and Futurama came back, they struggled to keep the ship afloat. Without a steady stream of Fox content, AS would be dead already. 
 

From a business angle though, letting it die isn’t a good idea. Something has to air during those hours, and it’s not like CN is in any better shape. Having a subpar block that has one heavy hitter is way better than trying to kickstart something new in 2023. So I agree, AS isn’t going anywhere. But they are also going to try everything to keep R&M going. It’s a nice bonus for AS to make a little money rather than just be 10 hours of late night time filler. 

[Jman]

And here comes the horror stories -

https://www.themarysue.com/what-did-justin-roiland-do-the-justin-roiland-controversy-explained/

[Toonamiguy321]

20 minutes ago, Jman said:

And here comes the horror stories -

https://www.themarysue.com/what-did-justin-roiland-do-the-justin-roiland-controversy-explained/

This is where I pump the brakes. The felony charges are real, and we will see what comes of them at trial. But every single time a prominent person catches some charges, there is always a stream of people who go “uhhhh actually he did that to me too I suddenly remember now that I see charges have been filed!” More often than not, these tales are either grossly exaggerated or entirely fabricated. Do I believe Roiland is the type of person where these could be true? Absolutely. But I also believe there is always a stream of nobodies who think they can ride the felony charge coattails into a few minutes of notoriety. 
 

I have been hearing since R&M started that Roiland and Harmon are creeps. If anything was bad enough, you would have come forward BEFORE someone else got charges to stick. 
 

Not to mention, it will be a cold day in hell before I believe “themarysue.com” engages in fair, unbiased reporting