Rick and Morty Co-creator and actor Justin Roiland has been making a lot of headlines lately, but not for his work voicing the main characters of the Adult Swim animated series. In early January, it emerged that he was facing two charges over an alleged domestic violence incident in 2020. Now Roiland’s attorney has spoken, and Twitter CEO Elon Musk has sided with him on the matter.
Justin Roiland’s attorney makes a statement
Just days after Justin Roiland was fired Rick and Morty despite his status as co-creator and voice actor, he attended a pre-trial hearing on January 26. The development comes after he pleaded “not guilty” to charges in 2020, which include misdemeanor domestic battery with bodily harm and one count of false imprisonment for threat, assault, fraud and/or deception. Attorney T. Edward Welbourn, one of the attorneys representing Roiland, wrote a defense statement (via nbc news):
We look forward to clearing Justin’s name and helping him move forward as quickly as possible.
The criminal complaint alleges that the incident that led to the two charges occurred in mid-January 2020, so this preliminary hearing (and Roiland’s firing of Rick and Morty) almost exactly two years later. He will not be charged until May 2020 and arrested in August of that year before being released on $50,000 bail. He was subpoenaed in October 2020. This week’s preliminary hearing is only the latest and no trial date has yet been set.
According to the outlet, Justin Roiland’s attorney revealed that there was a plea deal offer on the table, although no details of the offer were available. Relatively few details are known to the public at this time due to a protective order. What has been unequivocally confirmed is that while Adult Swim is moving forward with more seasons of Rick and Morty after the end of the sixth season before the 2023 television season, Roiland will not be involved … and Elon Musk has thoughts.
Elon Musk stepped in
Billionaire Elon Musk has made many headlines over the past year, with his Twitter purchase landing him on 24 News Bulletin’s list of the biggest pop culture moments of 2022. Unsurprisingly, it’s on the social media platform that Musk has open about her thoughts on Justin. Roiland is fired. In response to Adult Swim’s post announcing the end of its association with Roiland e Rick and Morty carry on without him, wrote Musk On Twitter:
It is also the heart of the show.
Roiland was undoubtedly the key to Rick and MortyMusk’s first six seasons as the voice actor behind the two main characters (and fans already have an idea of who could replace him), but there’s been no indication since his firing or Musk’s Jan. 25 tweet that Adult Swim will return . his decision. Indeed, another platform has taken steps to cut ties, with Hulu announcing the end of its partnership with Justin Roiland in solar opposites Yup koala man. Roiland co-created and starred in the former, and is credited as an executive producer on the latter.
Only time will tell what Justin Roiland’s professional future holds, how the lawsuit against him will play out, and whether further details will be available despite the protective order.
Source: Cinemablend
