Adult Swim severs ties with 'Rick and Morty' co-creator Justin Roiland after domestic abuse charges surface
Irvin Rivera / Getty contributor
- Adult Swim cut ties with "Rick and Morty" co-creator Justin Roiland after domestic abuse charges.
- Roiland is charged with one felony count of domestic battery and one count of false imprisonment.
- Adult Swim will continue to air "Rick and Morty," but it will re-cast Roiland's voice roles.
Adult Swim's working relationship with "Rick and Morty" co-creator Justin Roiland is officially over.
The Warner Bros. Discovery brand severed ties with Roiland following news of domestic abuse charges surfacing earlier this month.
"Adult Swim has ended its association with Justin Roiland," an Adult Swim spokesperson told Insider.
While Roiland will no longer be involved with "Rick and Morty," the animated series is expected to continue, according to The Hollywood Reporter, although Roiland's voice roles will be re-cast. Adult Swim, which ordered 70 episodes of the show in 2018, has aired less than half that number.
NBC News first reported on the news of domestic abuse charges against Roiland. According to the complaint, he is charged by the Orange County District Attorney's office with one felony count of domestic battery with corporal injury and one felony count of false imprisonment by menace, violence, fraud, and/or deceit.
Roiland was arrested and released on $50,000 bail on August 13, 2020, and later pleaded not guilty to both counts in October 2020, according to the court records.
Roiland's attorney T. Edward Welbourn denied the charges against Roiland in a statement to Insider earlier this month.
"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," Welbourn said in the statement. "We look forward to clearing Justin's name and helping him move forward as swiftly as possible."