'Rick and Morty' co-creator Dan Harmon issues apology following offensive sketch
Rick and Morty co-creator Dan Harmon has apologized after an offensive sketch from 2009 resurfaced on the internet.
The two-episode sketch dubbed "Daryl" was a parody of the TV series Dexter, appearing as part of Channel 101, a monthly short film festival which Harmon co-founded.
"Daryl," which was deleted in 2012 from the Channel 101 website, had recently received plenty of attention after it was posted on 4chan as well as far-right subreddit /r/The_Donald.
The sketch depicted the character of Daryl simulating rape with a baby doll. In one scene he plays a therapist, convincing a father that he should rape his baby to cure it of its murderous tendencies. Following the furore, Harmon deleted his Twitter account, and issued an apology late on Monday.
"In 2009, I made a 'pilot' which strove to parody the series Dexter and only succeeded in offending," Harmon said in a statement via email.
"I quickly realized the content was way too distasteful and took the video down immediately. Nobody should ever have to see what you saw and for that, I sincerely apologize."
An Adult Swim spokesperson also added: "At Adult Swim, we seek out and encourage creative freedom and look to push the envelope in many ways, particularly around comedy."
"The offensive content of Dan’s 2009 video that recently surfaced demonstrates poor judgement and does not reflect the type of content we seek out. Dan recognized his mistake at the time and has apologized. He understands there is no place for this type of content here at Adult Swim," the statement reads.
Harmon's not the only Hollywood creator apologizing for old material like this of late. Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn was recently fired by Disney after tweets making light of pedophilia were unearthed.
As The Hollywood Reporter notes, these tweets were brought to light by conservatives possibly in relation to Gunn's anti-Trump tweets.
Like Gunn, Harmon has also been critical of Trump, telling fans on his HarmonTown podcast last year following the Charlottesville riots: "It's easy to say you're not a Nazi. The president has a difficult time."
