On Tuesday, the official Rick and Morty animated comedy Twitter account posted a tweet that Adult Swim had “terminated its partnership with Justin Roiland,” the show’s co-creator and primary voice actor. The announcement comes 12 days after the news broke Roiland was charged (opens in new tab) with felony domestic violence and false imprisonment for an incident in early 2020.
After rising to prominence in comedy and animation with Rick and Morty, Roiland founded gaming studio Squanch Games, which High in life (opens in new tab) in December. Roiland served as CEO and also voiced Kenny, High on Life’s talking alien weapon.
The The tweet from the Rick and Morty account (opens in new tab) today is the first since Jan. 10, shortly before the domestic violence allegations against Roiland were made public. It’s brief, but states that “Rick and Morty will continue” with work on season seven underway. There is no mention of who will replace Roiland as the voice actor for Rick, Morty and a range of other characters.
Squanch Games hasn’t posted anything on its social media channels since January 11, but it seems likely that a statement on Roiland’s charges will eventually need to be made. Roiland voices a number of secondary characters in High On Life, just like Rick and Morty.
In May 2020, Roiland was charged with “misdemeanor domestic battery with bodily harm” and “misdemeanor false imprisonment by threat, force, fraud and/or deceit” according to NBC (opens in new tab), who broke the news. He pleaded not guilty to both charges in October 2020. The case has not yet gone to trial and came to light when Roiland attended a pre-trial hearing this month. If convicted, Roiland could face several years in prison – in California, felony domestic violence carries a sentence of up to four years. Misdemeanor false imprisonment can carry a sentence of up to three years.