The Disturbing Secret Behind An Iconic Nickelodeon Cartoon https://t.co/VW3sCpmCNe
— BuzzFeed (@BuzzFeed) March 29, 2018
- Two women, Robyn Byrd and Katie Rice, have stepped forward to accuse John Kricfalusi, creator of Ren & Stimpy, of grooming them when they were teens
- Both women were fans of Ren & Stimpy as children and wrote Kricfalusi fan letters saying they wanted to be cartoonists
- In both cases he responded to their fan letters and then began an online and in person relationship with each one
- Byrd officially became Kricfalusi's "girlfriend" at the age of 16 (he was 41) and he eventually hired her to do animation on his show
- Byrd's "relationship" with him was an open secret and a book written on him even includes a reference to his "15 year old girlfriend"
- Co-workers remember him sharing pornographic images of her
- After she left him he stepped up his sexual harassment of Rice including threatening to rape her
- She quit working for him after finding child porn on his computer
- An anonymous ex of Kricfalusi's also says she found child porn on his computer
Kricfalusi's statement through his lawyer:
The 1990s were a time of mental and emotional fragility for Mr. Kricfalusi, especially after losing Ren and Stimpy, his most prized creation. For a brief time, 25 years ago, he had a 16-year-old girlfriend. Over the years John struggled with what were eventually diagnosed mental illnesses in 2008. To that point, for nearly three decades he had relied primarily on alcohol to self-medicate. Since that time he has worked feverishly on his mental health issues, and has been successful in stabilizing his life over the last decade. This achievement has allowed John the opportunity to grow and mature in ways he’d never had a chance at before.
source
JFC