His work, which has long made comedy hay of subjects like incest and sexual deviance, was now being viewed through a different lens.
These two statements do not line up. Its in recent years that ‘dragon-sex fivesomes’ and Morty and his sisters spacebaby and Beth on Beth action happened…also, “Sexual Deviance”?? Did Jack D. Ripper write this??
Also ‘Multiple anonymous sources’, ‘Harmon wouldn’t comment’ ‘Adult Swim declined to comment’
This is stuff barely a step up from The Mirror.
Ironically its HARMON that I had to check a few months ago if he was even still involved with the show. As I hadn’t heard a peep from him in years, and Roiland was everywhere and for a guy ‘who seemed to check out years ago’ certainly seemed to be the face of the show.
Im saying it makes no sense to blame Roiland for ‘all the incest and sexual deviance’ when by their own admission he hasn’t worked on the show in years.
That said…as you said upthread…there’s not a lot Adult Swim could do. This doesn’t seem to be a ‘Johnny Depp thing’. Its not just the charges but the released DM’s and I give SOME weight to behind the scenes stuff.
“Weird sex stuff” has been in the show since at least the fifth episode, when Morty is sexually assaulted in a public restroom by a talking jellybean. The article might be getting the timeline wrong about which particular weird sex stuff showed up before Roiland checked out, and which showed up after, but it’s entertainment news reporting, not a Rick and Morty wiki. It’s a pretty trivial error.
Yeah, I don’t think those themes can be blamed on Roiland. Or at least not exclusively. It seems likely that when Harmon and Roiland were pitching the show to Adult Swim way back when, they promised that the show would be “edgy” and thus perfect for that particular network.
Not all Adult Swim original productions feature incest and the molestation of minors–but it can’t be said that R&M has been the only home for such themes.
I don’t think anyone’s “blaming” him for them, though. The quote just notes that his stuff that’s sexually charged hits differently now that he’s been legally charged. My wife, who’s a huge R&M fan, played this clip for me the other day, without comment, and we both started laughing because it just reads so differently in light of what Roiland’s been charged with. That doesn’t really change even if Roiland didn’t write that speech, just recorded it.
They still haven’t announced a replacement voice actor, and the rumor is that, what with the strike and all, they’re going to use Roiland’s already-recorded vocals for this season and the new VAs will start in season 8. We’ll find out in just under two months, I guess.
I would be down for that for an episode. We’d need some AI generated dialogue to go with the obviously-fake voice, though. Might make for a great episode, considering they already made a whole, very enjoyable episode out of Rick turning into a pickle.
The promos I’ve seen for the new season show Rick yelling something like, “Me and you, Morty, going after my greatest enemy! Season 7!” Which sounds like they may be doing some arc stories. Weird because I thought it was Harmon who hated them. Of course, you can’t believe anything in a R&M promo.
This is because diehard R&M fans have got to be the worst kind of fan. There can’t even be a McDonald’s sauce tie-in without them being the worst assholes in a fast food joint and always have to jump out in front with the dumbest hot takes to prove how much smarter they are than other fandoms. They make me feel bad for liking this show.
