Looks like Dan Harmon won’t be going the way of James Gunn.
Adult Swim is defending the Rick & Morty co-creator, who recently came under fire after 4chan users unearthed a sketch that he wrote poking fun at child rape almost ten years ago.
The controversial video, Daryl, made an attempt to spoof Showtime‘s Dexter by following “a baby rapist with a heart of gold.” In the sketch, uploaded to Harmon’s Channel 101 website nine years ago, the Community creator is seen rubbing his genitals on a doll.
Related: Dan Apologizes For Sexually Harassing Former Writer
A rep for Adult Swim addressed the drama Tuesday, explaining that while the network does not support this particular sketch, it was standing by Harmon and will continue to “encourage creative freedom.”
According to Polygon, the representative said:
“At Adult Swim, we seek out and encourage creative freedom and look to push the envelope in many ways, particularly around comedy. 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 deleted his Twitter account after the video resurfaced and has since apologized for the “way too distasteful” parody. He wrote:
“In 2009, I made a ‘pilot’ which strove to parody the series Dexter and only succeeded in offending. 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.”
This comes days after Disney fired Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn for a series of old tweets in which he joked about rape and pedophilia.
Related: Billy Eichner Nails It Amid Alt-Right’s Successful Bid To Get James Gunn Fired
Like Harmon, Gunn had apologized for his bad jokes long before they resurfaced and were caught in the crosshairs of society’s current outrage culture.
[Image via Nikki Nelson/WENN.]