Rick And Morty Co-Creator Apologizes After Offensive Video Resurfaces [Update]

Update: Both Adult Swim and Harmon himself have now commented on the matter. At least at this point, it doesn't appear we'll have a repeat of the James Gunn situation where the two sides part ways.

"At Adult Swim, we seek out and encourage creative freedom and look to push the envelope in many ways, particularly around comedy," an Adult Swim spokesperson told GameSpot. "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."

As for Harmon, he said in statement shared with GameSpot, "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."

Original story: Rick and Morty co-creator Dan Harmon has disappeared from Twitter following a slew of criticism and harassment over a decade-old comedy pilot, ComicBook reports. Any searches for Dan Harmon under Twitter profiles does not pull up the comedy writer's official account at this time.

The video in question, titled Daryl, stars Harmon in a five-minute comedy satire of Showtime serial killer drama Dexter. The video, which was created in 2009, shows Harmon acting indecently towards baby dolls in several scenes.

Harmon introduces the video as his "controversial new pilot Daryl" and prefaces it with a warning. As the video continues, Harmon proceeds with his warning, saying he "originally made it with Showtime for their audience because it's a little groundbreaking for normal people to handle." Later in the video, Daryl admits that he's a monster that rapes babies. The video was reportedly taken offline in 2012.

Harmon's swift exit from Twitter comes not long after Guardians of the Galaxy 3 director James Gunn was fired by Disney for tweets spanning 2008 to approximately 2011. Gunn, who has directed the first two Guardians of the Galaxy movies, said, "It's not to say I'm better, but I am very, very different than I was a few years ago" in response to the criticism he's received regarding his early use of Twitter.

It's unclear if Adult Swim will let go of Dan Harmon following the level of backlash.