‘Rick and Morty’ Co-Creator Justin Roiland Facing Domestic Violence Charges

Justin Roiland, the co-creator and lead voice actor of the hit animated series Rick and Morty, is facing charges of felony domestic violence stemming from a 2020 incident.

NBC News reports that Roiland was arrested and 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 following the incident, which involved a Jane Doe victim he was dating at the time.

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Roiland pleaded not guilty to the two charges, and the criminal complaint, arrest affidavit, and subsequent legal hearings remain sealed. NBC News reported on the criminal case against Roiland after he appeared Thursday at a pretrial hearing in Orange County, California. A trial date has not yet been set, but Roiland was ordered to attend another pretrial hearing on April 27.

The incident reportedly occurred in Jan. 2020, and Roiland was charged in May 2020. He was arrested and released on a $50,000 bond in August of that year and was formally arraigned in Oct. 2020. That same month, a protective order was filed against Roiland prohibiting him from contacting or going within 100 feet of the Jane Doe victim; that protective order remains in effect until Oct. 2023.

According to NBC News, Roiland’s attorneys told the court that he was offered a plea deal. News of the charges against Roiland comes just days after a new animated series he’s executive producing, Koala Man, debuted on Hulu.

In a statement to Rolling Stone, Roiland’s attorney, T. Edward Welbourn, said, “It is hard to overstate how inaccurate the recent media coverage of this situation has been. To be clear, not only is Justin innocent but we also have every expectation that this matter is on course to be dismissed once the District Attorney’s office has completed its methodical review of the evidence. We look forward to clearing Justin’s name and helping him move forward as swiftly as possible.”

Roiland and Dan Harmon co-created Rick and Morty in 2013, and in the decade that followed, the series has reportedly become a billion-dollar franchise. In 2018, after accusations of inappropriate conduct were levied against Harmon during his time working on Community, he admitted to sexually harassing a former writer on the show, Megan Ganz.

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