Opinion: Adult Swim Shows The Courage That Disney Should Learn From In Keeping “Rick and Morty” Co-Creator Dan Harmon

Why do we keep having to have this conversation?

The battle against freedom of speech and art expression continues in a country where our values are supposed to celebrate both. We’ve been seeing the battle on one front with The Simpsons creator Matt Groening rightfully speaking out and noting that the so-called controversy around “Apu” is really quite unfounded. Fortunately, 20th Century FOX, has done the right thing in sticking behind their creator and letting him fight for a lovable character that evidently didn’t create enough outrage that it caused fans to write scripts for Adi Shankar’s parody which, as of this writing, doesn’t appear to be moving anywhere.

With a Disney-FOX merger all but done, fellow Emmy-winning producer Donald Glover’s Deadpool was dealt a fatal blow after Disney-owned Marvel had creative conflicts with some of the scripts lampooning Taylor Swift, an important cog in the company’s effort to save face to the Disney princesses that dot the fan base that flock to Disney World every year. More recently, Disney has continued to show no gusto when it comes to standing up for its producers in the face of silly outrage which was fairly evident when Roseanne Barr’s controversialtweets caused the star of her own show to lose her post and likewise for director James Gunn whom was fired from the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise TEN YEARS after some ancient tweets came to light.

Most companies do have some sort of a social media policy. If someone is contracted by a company, that company has the right to terminate that contract if social media posts look harmful on behalf of the company. It’s a ridiculous policy, but it’s a policy. From a company legal standpoint, Disney has every right to terminate employment with whomever they do business with. In the case of Gunn and Roseanne, both have been terminated for tweets containing that were either years old or drug-induced, so really one has to wonder what, if any, background checks Disney does. From a legal standpoint they have the right to terminate Roseanne and Gunn, but from an ethical point of view, firing someone for social media comments is straight crazy and gives ammunition to those (I’m looking at you Russia) to cause a whole bunch of trouble if all they have to do is reference a social media post from yesteryear. Censorship has no place in America, regardless of political affiliation, point of view, or artistic expression.

That’s why I’m happy to see the way in which Adult Swim has handled Dan Harmon’s recent controversy. A video he produced ten years ago came to light and, as such, has deleted his social media presence. Personally, I think this will be the first of many celebrities to do so which, after Trump is out, should kill the platform for good much in the same way Facebook is barely hanging on now. If I were James and Roseanne, I would’ve done the same thing the second I signed on to such a high profile company. Harmon is not immune to controversy, so for Adult Swim to stand by their guy in such silly times of faux outrage is highly commendable and shows that there are rational people on the top. Disney, on the other hand, clearly doesn’t get it. We’re living in a time of the easily offended which, really, has been going on for the past 100 years. Whether it’s extreme Christian right groups pissed at every Family Guy episode or liberal representatives of the state waging war against the music industry, we as a country are constantly trying to silence ourselves. Too many people have died in various battlefields all over the world to want to squander away such a beautiful gift as freedom of expression or speech on something silly as social media warriors chastising anything they deem not suitable for their virgin eyes.

If you are someone who is easily offended by content made for the purposes of entertainment, then ignore it. Did something being on social get you hot and bothered? Then go outside. Wanna show real justice in the face of insurmountable odds? Turn your attention to the over-prescribed States of America and help clean up the streets being overridden by chemicals that are too expensive to buy anyway and that causes people to go on mass shooting sprees (sorry kiddos, the increase in gun violence in America has less to do with gun rights as it does with mental illness and poverty being the overlying factors). But don’t get bent out of shape when people who work in Hollywood post outlandish shit on social media…that makes you a bitch…plain and simple.