Rick and Morty co-creator Justin Roiland has responded to new sexual assault allegations, stating that the newest claims are not true.
What did Justin Roiland say?
New allegations surrounding Roiland sprang up this week in a story published by NBC News based on interviews with 11 women and nonbinary people.
The people in the report all claimed that they had messaged Roiland sometime between 2013 and 2022. Nine allege that Roiland would shift their talks to a sexual nature and three claim they were 16 years old at the time.
According to the report, when reached out to for comment, Andrew Brettler, a lawyer representing Roiland, said that all allegations were “false and defamatory.”
The report’s sources also provided NBC News with photos, videos, social media posts, emails, and other receipts that point to their connections with Roiland. These claims are separate from the ones that sprang up earlier this year.
What are the allegations against Roiland?
Included in some of the allegations in the report is one claim that Roiland forced himself onto a 20-year-old woman. After speaking with each other on Tinder, Roiland and the woman met up, with Roiland buying drinks for her when she said she was too young to do so herself. Eventually, the woman claims, they went to Roiland’s hotel room, where he asked her to perform oral sex on her. She said she told him no, but Roiland persisted and pushed her head toward his crotch, at which point she said she stopped resisting.
“From the moment it happened, I knew that it was not OK,” the woman said in her interview with NBC News. “But I felt a lot of different feelings, like that it was my fault. I felt guilty for asking him to buy me stuff. I felt maybe I owed it to him. And I was embarrassed.”
Following the moment, the woman called friends on her way home to relay the story, something that they corroborated with NBC News. In texts to Roiland months later, she told Roiland that the situation was “not handled” in the best way, to which Roiland seemed to acknowledge and apologize for the incident.
“S— yeah, I didn’t??” Roiland replied. “I’m really sorry! F— […] That’s not cool at all — jeeeesus That is not me whatsoever… I literally didn’t get consent??”
The report also mentions that Roiland (who was 36 at the time) began talking with a 19-year-old in 2016. Eventually, the two met in person, and would have a sexual encounter in a hot tub while another one of Roiland’s friends was in their presence. After that, the woman also told Roiland that she was uncomfortable with the events and said that she had consented to having sex with Roiland but was felt pressured into letting him film the events.
Roiland’s lawyer also addressed those allegations, saying that the woman involved had consensual sex with Roiland.
Other allegations in the report include claims that Roiland spoke to two different people who were 16 at the time, which he referred to as “jailbait.” One specific message Roiland reportedly sent was in regard to a 16-year-old girl saying she had an interest in livestreaming, to which Roiland said, “Then once you turn 18 you just start cam whoring.”
