The #MeToo movement is still happening and still calling out the people in entertainment who deserve to be exposed for their sexual harassment and assault. The bravery of so many women and men coming forward and telling their stories is paving the way for others to speak up for themselves.
John Kricfalusi, creator of the 1990s Nickelodeon series The Ren and Stimpy Show, was accused of sexually harassing two teenage girls in the 1990s and early 2000s, according to BuzzFeed.
Robyn Byrd and Katie Rice, two women now in their thirties, both have reported harassment as teenagers by Kricfalusi, who promised them both careers working as animators at his studio. Byrd and Rice did not know of each other’s existence at the time, but both eventually came together and compared stories regarding their relationship with Kricfalusi.
Middle age adult men do not have 16 yr old “girlfriends” – they have victims https://t.co/31Zb9saHoy
— Jessica Valenti (@JessicaValenti) March 29, 2018
Kricfalusi, now 62, employed both Byrd and Rice at his Spumco studio. He was in a romantic relationship with Byrd, beginning when she was 17, and she recalls being coerced into sex with him. He went to visit both girls at their homes as teenagers, and Rice recounted the sexually explicit things he said to her over the phone.
Besides doing animation for Ren and Stimpy on Nickelodeon, Kricfalusi had also worked with Spike TV, Fox Kids, Cartoon Network and Adult Swim, where Buzzfeed reports that he “made his fixation on teenage girls plainly obvious in his art.” His portrait still hangs on the wall at Nickelodeon Studios and, as the Washington Post noted, the network reportedly made no comment as to whether that would change anytime soon.