The sketch is from 10 years ago…
Rick and Morty co-creator Dan Harmon has deleted his Twitter account after an offensive, 10-year-old sketch resurfaced online.
The two-episode sketch dubbed “Daryl” was a parody of the TV series Dexter, appearing as part of Channel 101, a short film festival which Harmon helped found.
Harmon apologised after a video emerged of the graphic sketch in which he plays a therapist who repeatedly molests babies.
The Guardian reports, the video was re-shared by 4Chan and far-right subreddit The_Donald, as an act of protest against Harmon’s recent criticism of President Donald Trump.
Vulture reported in 2012 that the video was removed without an explanation.
“Unfortunately,” they wrote, “Daryl has been taken offline for unknown reasons. I’m going to assume that it was a move by Harmon to keep unsuspecting NBC execs who hold Community’s fate in their hands from seeing the second episode, which may or may not have contained man-on-cat rape.”
In an apology issued on Tuesday, Harmon 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 apologise.”
Adult Swim, who broadcast Rick and Morty, also released a statement saying that Harmon had realised his mistake.
“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 apologised. He understands there is no place for this type of content here at Adult Swim.”
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