John Kricfalusi Sexual Abuse Accuser Thinks The “Ren & Stimpy” Reboot At Comedy Central That He Has Nothing To Do With Will Re-Launch His Career

 

 

 

Robyn Byrd, one of John Kricfalusi’s alleged sexual abuse victims, has released a Change.org petition asking Chris McCarthy to not reboot the recently ordered The Ren & Stimpy Show.

Her case is that despite the fact that John has nothing to do with the reboot, that the success of the revival will somehow revive the franchise creator’s career. Moreover, Robyn shares a belief that his characters will bring up bad memories of her nearly four-year affair with the cartoonist.

In March 2018, Robyn Byrd and Katie Rice disclosed to BuzzFeed that Kricfalusi sexually harassed and groomed them for sexual abuse while they were underage. Byrd told the website that she was in a sexual relationship with Kricfalusi in 1997 at age 16, and flew to California to live with him when she was 17. Rice said that Kricfalusi had flirted with her and made overt sexual comments towards her starting when she was 14, and sexually harassed her when she turned 18 and began working at his animation studio, Spümcø. Documents Rice and Byrd had saved from those years corroborate their stories, and several people who worked with Kricfalusi referred to his sexual harassment as an open secret in the animation industry. Kricfalusi was also alleged to possess child pornography on his computer. Though the allegations were eventually reported to the police, they could neither arrest nor investigate Kricfalusi because the statute of limitations had passed.

That said, when the announcement was made by Chris McCarthy of the show’s reboot, he made very clear that John K. will get no profits from the series’ run that will be on Comedy Central. In her post, Robyn insinuates that this was somehow an order from Nickelodeon that deflects potential pitches from young people, POC, and women, despite the fact that it isn’t Nickelodeon airing the reboot. She also seems to be taking a typical “woke” take on the franchise slandering Ren & Stimpy for being “racist & offensive”, therefore shouldn’t be aired on a network that also features South Park. 

Our Take

I suggest if Robyn truly has a problem with the revival of The Ren & Stimpy Show, there’s a really easy solution. People don’t have to work for the crew and you don’t have to watch. While I won’t comment on the veracity of the allegations due to the fact that there hasn’t been a judicial result, the fact that Ren & Stimpy has such a fandom decades after it’s initial Nickelodeon run (despite the awful Spike TV reboot), is a testament to the strength of the brand and it’s fanbase and that it’s easy to separate someone’s personal life with their tangible output. Do Mercedes drives think about the fact that the brand used to own factories in WWII that would hang Jews that didn’t work fast enough? Or that your mobile phone was probably built by someone who makes less than $2 a day? Of course not! Why? Because ignorance is bliss and I can’t wait for Comedy Central to relaunch The Ren & Stimpy Show!