Domestic battery and false imprisonment charges have been dropped against Justin Roiland relating to an alleged incident back in January 2020, as announced by Roiland himself and confirmed by Variety. In a statement, Orange County District Attorney’s office spokesperson Kimberly Edds said: “We dismissed the charges today as a result of having insufficient evidence to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Insufficient evidence is a common reason not to proceed forward with a trial, but Justin Roiland is taking this news as if it’s the ultimate vindication that he has never done anything wrong in his entire life. On Twitter, his statement began, “I have always known that these claims were false — and I never had any doubt that this day would come. I’m thankful that this case has been dismissed but, at the same time, I’m still deeply shaken by the horrible lies that were reported about me during this process.”
What exactly he’s referring to as horrible lies is unclear, but it could be the entire feature from THR documenting years of Roiland being difficult to work with and a diminishing, borderline irrelevant creative force on Rick and Morty. There are also allegations, with screenshots, of Roiland speaking with women and/or underage girls in a manner that could be deemed thoroughly inappropriate.
Nonetheless, since Justin Roiland has been cleared of the charges, he is coming across rather self-righteous, continuing in his statement: “Most of all, I’m disappointed that so many people were so quick to judge without knowing the facts, based solely on the word of an embittered ex trying to bypass due process and have me ‘canceled.’ That it may have succeeded, even partially, is shameful. However, now that the legal case has ended, I’m determined to move forward and focus both on my creative projects and restoring my good name.”
justice pic.twitter.com/1q9M4GA6MV
— Justin Roiland (@JustinRoiland) March 22, 2023
Restoring his good name is not likely to occur anytime soon, as most of the entities working with him have already severed ties. Roiland is no longer part of Rick and Morty (or Adult Swim in general), and the characters he voiced are being recast. He was also dropped from Solar Opposites and Koala Man on Hulu, and he voluntarily resigned from his own game development company, Squanch Games, which created High on Life.
The prevailing sentiment here seems to be that, even if Justin Roiland genuinely is innocent of all the allegations that had been risen regarding domestic violence, the guy still seems like so much of an unlikable dork and creep that people don’t want to welcome him back anyway. But time will tell if he can make resurgence. Mel Gibson’s career never totally ended, after all.
