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- Cartoon Network investigated alleged workplace misconduct by Justin Roiland in 2020, per The Hollywood Reporter.
- Adult Swim recently cut ties with Roiland over domestic abuse charges against him.
- Roiland has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Adult Swim, the late-night division of Cartoon Network, cut ties with “Rick and Morty” co-creator Justin Roiland last month over revelations that he faced domestic abuse charges.
The network also investigated Roiland years ago over accusations of workplace misconduct, The Hollywood Reporter reported on Tuesday. THR said the result of the investigation was unclear.
A Cartoon Network representative declined to comment to THR and Insider. An Adult Swim representative declined to comment to Insider.
NBC News first reported last month that Roiland — who also voiced the titular characters of “Rick and Morty” and co-created the Hulu animated show “Solar Opposites” — was 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 in 2020.
“We look forward to clearing Justin’s name and helping him move forward as swiftly as possible,” an attorney for Roiland told NBC News.
Roiland has pleaded not guilty to the charges and is due in court for another pretrial hearing in April.
Since NBC News reported on the charges, both Adult Swim and Hulu have parted ways with Roiland. He will be replaced on “Rick and Morty” and “Solar Opposites,” according to THR.
While Roiland co-created “Rick and Morty” — a popular animated series about the mad scientist Rick and his grandson Morty — and voiced the two main characters, his creative involvement in the series had been lacking after the first season, the THR report said, citing anonymous sources.
He would voice characters from his home and seemed uninterested in writers meetings; during one meeting, he sat so far away from the other writers he needed binoculars to see the white board, according to THR.
Adult Swim ordered 70 more episodes of “Rick and Morty” in 2018 and has aired less than 50% of those.
