When it comes to fandom, there is a universal truth: all fandoms have a toxic side, a group whose behaviors are often deeply problematic. Rick and Morty is no exception, but one Adult Swim executive thinks he has the solution for how to handle the popular animated series’ worst fans.
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When asked about the toxic fans during a panel discussion at the Television Critics Association winter press tour on Saturday (via TV Guide), Adult Swim senior vice president Jason DeMarco said that the best way to keep toxic Rick and Morty fans at bay is simply to ignore them.
“There is a segment of Rick and Morty fans that’s toxic,” DeMarco said. “They’re the minority.”
DeMarco went on to note that most fans, like the ones he meets at conventions, are “sweet” people who just want to celebrate the show and that they way to deal with the few bad apples is not engage, specifically by making sure that the show reflects that poor behavior isn’t an ideal to aspire to.
“What we have to do,” DeMarco said, is show “this is someone you don’t want to be.”
If that sounds like a too-simple solution to you, you may not be wrong. The problematic subset of Rick and Morty fans are, as TV Guide noted, among the worst of the worst. Some of these fans have doxxed female writers hired for the show and even beyond the gender-based negative behavior, there are other problematic issues. A major one being the behavior of some fans when McDonald’s ran out of Szechuan Sauce during a 2017 re-release in homage to the show.
And the idea of presenting the behavior as something fans shouldn’t aspire to is complex itself. A major part of the character Rick’s popularity is that he is outrageous and offensive, spewing the exact kind of sentiments wrapped in humor that the toxic segment of the fandom itself engages in. Even if Rick and Morty presents Rick as an undesirable “ideal” if you will, there are fans that will still identify with it. It’s that sort of issue that Olan Rogers, executive producer of TBS’ Final Space has a different approach to. Rogers engages the toxic fans, with empathy.
“The moment you give them a shred of positivity, they change,” Rogers said.
While it’s unclear how well ignoring toxic fans will go when it comes to Rick and Morty, when it comes to shreds of positivity the fandom overall does have something to look forward to. While a date has yet to be set, the show has been renewed for another 70 more episodes.
What do you think about DeMarco’s comments about dealing with toxic fandom? Let us know in the comments below.
