In what was an inevitable if still fandom-shattering turn of events, Adult Swim confirmed this week that it has cut ties with Rick and Morty co-creator Justin Roiland in the wake of the producer/voice actor facing domestic abuse charges and other disturbing details from his past coming to light. The seventh season of the smash-hit animated series will proceed, but without Roiland’s involvement, although his replacement as the two titular characters has yet to be found at the time of writing.
While it remains to be seen how viewers react to the Roiland-less Rick and Morty, Adult Swim is being widely commended on social media for its speedy response to the scandal surrounding the creator. In fact, the swiftness with which the network has removed Roiland from the equation is only heightening the need for Netflix to address a somewhat similar situation that’s embroiling one of its own most popular TV series — concerning Wednesday actor Percy Hynes White.
Earlier this January, White was hit with alarming allegations of sexual assault from multiple women, with it claimed that — from the ages of 17 to 20 — he and an unnamed group of friends were responsible for throwing parties in order to “explicitly invite women they thought were hot so they could get them drunk and high enough to have sex with them.” As well as being labeled a “predator,” White is similarly alleged to have shared nude pictures online without consent, targeted minors, and even aided a rapist.
Needless to say, these are extremely serious accusations being leveled at White, with Wednesday fans quickly turning against the star and demanding that he be removed from season two. #Cancelpercy has been a recurring trend on Twitter, with the grassroots campaign to get someone else cast as Wednesday’s love interest Xavier Thorpe taking shape. And yet so far neither Netflix nor White has addressed the situation in any way, shape, or form.
It must be said that there are some key differences between the case of Roiland and that of White, as Roiland has been formally charged with a felony and is due to stand for a pre-trial in April. White, meanwhile, has not been formally charged, so the veracity of the allegations against him has yet to be investigated to the same extent — although many feel the overwhelming evidence speaks for itself.
That said, individuals in the entertainment industry have been removed in the face of much less damning situations than this one, so Netflix is only risking ruining one of its few megawatt series still running the longer it refuses to address the controversy around White. Before Wednesday season two starts shooting later this year, the streamer must take a leaf out of Adult Swim’s playbook and tackle the elephant in the room.
We Got This Covered has reached out to Netflix for comment.
