It goes without saying that the fate of Rick and Morty has been in free fall since allegations of domestic abuse and, shall we say, even less savory rumors have surfaced about series co-creator Justin Roiland. But in somewhat promising news for fans who would like to see the beloved Adult Swim series continue on, apparently the extent of Roiland’s involvement has been greatly exaggerated.
This is according to comedy writer and comic artist Alec Robbins, who fired back at Elon Musk’s bizarre claim that Roiland “is the heart” of Rick and Morty.
On Wednesday, Musk jumped into the fray responding to filmmaker and journalist Tim Pool, who insinuated that it would seemingly be impossible to replace Roiland since he voices Rick and Morty. “He is also the heart of the show,” replied Musk, who once appeared as “Elon Tusk” in the season 4 episode, “One Crew Over the Crewcoo’s Morty.”
Robbins, who currently works for the Squanch Games video game development studio, founded by Roiland in 2016, responded to Musk a short time later.
“To my knowledge, Justin’s only real creative involvement with Rick and Morty since probably season 3 is that he recorded the voices from his own basement,” Robbins wrote, “I’m told he wasn’t welcome in the writers room because of multiple covered-up internal WB investigations re: sexual misconduct.”
In a followup tweet, Robbins added: “And on top of everything else, there are dozens and dozens of screenshotted accounts of him texting underage girls and telling them how much he wanted to have sex with them. Maybe they can find another heart for the show.”
Well, there you go. We couldn’t imagine anything much more spot on than Justin Roiland recording the voices for Rick and Morty from his own basement — but as long as an adequate replacement, or replacements, is chosen, it sounds like the series is going to be just fine. Well perhaps not fine, but okay enough to at least finish out season 7 and give fans a serviceable ending.