Justin Roiland Domestic Violence Case Dismissed Over ‘Insufficient Evidence’
The domestic violence charges pressed against Rick and Morty co-creator Justin Roiland have been dropped, according to a statement released to Variety. Kimberly Edds of the Orange County District Attorney’s office told the outlet, “We dismissed the charges today as a result of having insufficient evidence to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt.”
The decision by the DA not to pursue the felony charges pressed against Roiland by a former romantic partner brings to a close a three-year long legal battle for the former Rick and Morty writer and voice actor. In the wake of the decision, Roiland took to Twitter in a post simply captioned, “Justice,” saying, “I have always known that these claims were false — and I never had any doubt that this day would come. I’m thankful that this case has been dismissed but, at the same time, I’m still deeply shaken by the horrible lies that were reported about me during this process.”
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Roiland called his accuser an “embittered ex” and decried the public push to “cancel” him, saying, “That it may have succeeded, even partially, is shameful.” Roiland ended his statement by writing that he is “determined to move forward and focus both on my creative projects and restoring my good name.”
Though the criminal trial will not continue, Roiland’s professional life and public image have already faced serious setbacks after a wave of unseemly allegations came out against him after the news of the felony charges he faced broke back in January. Adult Swim cut ties with Roiland less than two weeks after the charges were made public, and shortly after Roiland was removed from his roles on both Rick and Morty and Hulu’s Solar Opposites, reports of Roiland’s disruptive behavior and deteriorating relationship with the writers and creatives involved in both projects began to reach the general public. Many such reports alleged instances of sexual harassment by Roiland against female staffers of the shows
In addition, Roiland has been accused of sending explicit and inappropriate DMs to underaged girls, including an alleged conversation with a 16-year-old in which Roiland supposedly told the minor, “You should just run away from home and go into sex slavery, YOU FUCKING STUPID F—-T BITCH!” Neither Roiland nor his representatives have commented on these allegations or the validity of the screenshots that Twitter users continue to post in the replies to Roiland’s announcement.
The accuser from the above screenshot also tweeted a video of herself scrolling through extensive online conversations between her and Roiland in which he called her “jail bait” and told her, “Once you turn 18, you should just start camwhoring.”
Others have corroborated her story with their own claims of receiving inappropriate messages sent by Roiland:
Neither Adult Swim, Dan Harmon nor any of Roiland’s former creative partners have yet commented on the district attorney’s decision to drop the charges against him, nor the extensive and unrelated allegations that have come out in the months since the spotlight was first placed on Roiland’s alleged misbehavior.
