Justin Roiland, creator of TV series Rick and Morty and the recently released High on Life game, has been charged with domestic violence against a former girlfriend.
NBC News reports that it obtained Orange County Superior Court records stating that a criminal complaint was filed against Roiland back in May 2020 by the Orange County District Attorney. The complaint charges Roiland with “one felony count of domestic battery with corporal injury and one felony count of false imprisonment by menace, violence, fraud and/or deceit.” Roiland was arrested and released with a $50,000 bond in August 2020 and pleaded not guilty to both charges in October of that same year.
According to NBC News the victim says the incident between herself and Roiland occurred around Jan. 19 of that year. A protective order was filed in October 2020, which states that Roiland can not harass, threaten, surveil, or be within 100 feet of an unknown person protected under the order. The order also made Roiland relinquish ownership of any firearms he owned or possessed. The order lasts until October 2023. According to NBC News, Roiland is scheduled to appear in court Thursday for a pre-trial hearing.
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This news comes shortly after the release of High on Life, a first-person shooter game created by Roiland’s video game company, Squanch Games. Despite the game’s popularity on Game Pass, Xbox’s Netflix-like game subscription service, it’s been at the center of controversy for its use of an AI generator to create poster art and vocal performances. Prior to High on Life’s release on December 13, Roiland launched two NFT projects in 2021 and 2022 called The Best I Could Do and Art Gobblers.
Kotaku reached out to Squanch Games and Roiland’s lawyer but did not receive a comment by the time of publication.