Sadly, it seems as though there isn’t a day or week that goes by without another allegation of disturbing sexual abuse that has gone on in Hollywood. In what started with Harvey Weinstein and has seemingly ended the careers of major movie names like Kevin Spacey and Brett Ratner, another name has come into the light. Though you might not know John Kricfalusi‘s name right off the bat – you will most definitely know his show, Ren & Stimpy.
According to a new report from Buzzfeed, 13-year-old Robyn Byrd sent Kricfalusi drawings and videos of herself talking about all she wants to do in animation, and surprisingly, got a response from the creator.
“I had built up these characters and this mythos of Ren & Stimpy in my head. It was exciting.”
Soon, she said that she began receiving toys and art supplies from the then 39-year-old creator, and she just couldn’t believe it. He convinced her she could become a great artist, and he eventually visited her in the trailer park where she had lived in Tucson, Arizona. As she put it,
“I thought I was still his little cute friend.”
The report then goes into some disturbing territory, saying:
…when she was still in 11th grade, he flew her to Los Angeles to show her his studio and talk about her future. She said that on the same trip, in a room with a sliding glass door that led to his pool, he touched her genitals through her pajamas as she lay frozen on a blanket he’d placed on the floor. She was 16.
Before her senior year of high school in 1997, Kricfalusi flew Byrd to Los Angeles, where she got an internship at his studio, Spumco. She lived with him as his 16-year-old-girlfriend and intern. At age 17, after finishing high school, she moved in with him permanently. She had to tell herself that he was helping her launch her career – though in the end, she ended up leaving animation altogether just to get away from Kricfalusi.
The report also states that it was a well known open secret on how the creator would harass women and young teenage girls. Tony Mora, an animator at the studio thought the relationship was odd – and a drawing especially gave him cause to pause:
Mora got an internship at Spumco in 1997, around the age of 24, and when he first started seeing Byrd around the studio, “I was like, ‘Who’s that little girl?’” he said. The relationship was odd to him, but it seemed to be accepted at the studio, where former employees say Kricfalusi fostered a libertine atmosphere in which taking offense was itself offensive. They were making shows with sexual themes; there were raunchy nude drawings on display. Mora said Kricfalusi left out a drawing he made of Byrd, naked, with a dog ejaculating on her.
Byrd wasn’t the only one, according to THR, Katie Rice is another victim, who was 17:
Rice, an artist, said that Kricfalusi began hitting on her and masturbating while he was on the phone with her when she was a minor. At 18, when Rice was offered and accepted a job at Spumco, she said he sexually harassed her. Rice additionally alleged to having found child pornography on Kricfalusi’s computer.
John K.’s lawyer released the following statement regarding all of this:
“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.”
The Buzzfeed report goes into way more detail, and is definitely worth a read. Some on Twitter have posted that they aren’t exactly surprised – and have shared similar experiences:
The John Kricfalusi story? Well, um, yeah. The letters and cards that I used to get from him sure seem disgusting now. This was from 1992… I was 12. pic.twitter.com/GmNbv9NKlB
— Bee Copland (@Afternoon_Lady) March 29, 2018
Seems kind of weird that none of the colleagues or friends who saw a 40 year old John Kricfalusi with his 16 year old girlfriend were like, uh hey man you are absolutely not allowed to do this
— daddys wrestling with pigs again (@HonoredSpirit) March 29, 2018
I wish I could travel back to a time where I had not read that article about John Kricfalusi being a disgusting predator
— priscilla page (@BBW_BFF) March 30, 2018
what? ren and stimpy creator john kricfalusi preyed on underage girls?
but he always seemed so decent and non-pervy and respectful of boundaries
what a shocker
look how shocked i am
— Tony Goldmark (@tonygoldmark) March 29, 2018
It’s pretty sad, and it’ll be interesting to see how people look at Ren & Stimpy going forward. It was already said that Nickelodeon wanted nothing to do with the cartoon, and were planning on leaving the characters out of their upcoming Nicktoons movie. This probably won’t help matters much in that department.