Dan Harmon, co-creator of Rick and Morty and creator of Community, apologized on Monday after an offensive video that he starred in resurfaced. The showrunner since left Twitter and the video was removed.
The video from 2009, which was shared among far-right bloggers, The_Donald subreddit, and 4chan, shows Harmon pretending to rape a baby doll among other distasteful scenes. The sketch was titled “Daryl,” and was meant to be a spoof on Showtime’s Dexter.
“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,” Harmon said in a statement to Polygon.
Adult Swim also issued a statement regarding Harmon and the nine-year-old sketch: “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.”
Harmon’s apology comes just a few days after right-wing activists unearthed old tweets from James Gunn, leading Disney to promptly fire the Guardians of the Galaxy director from the upcoming third installment of the franchise.