Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy Creator Says He was Fired for “Ruining Cartoon Network”

The creator of The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy Maxwell Atoms says that he was fired for “ruining Cartoon Network’s brand” and as a result is unlike to work with Adult Swim. Atoms recently made the claim while answering fan questions on his Tumblr account (via CBR) when he was asked if he had ever considered making shows for Adult Swim. Atoms explain that he had ideas, but that he didn’t think any collaboration would be likely considering the past.

“I have a couple of ideas that I think would KILL on Adult Swim,” Atoms wrote. “But since the current president is the guy who gave me a public dressing-down for ‘ruining Cartoon Network’s brand’ with my ‘hateful fart cartoon’ before promptly firing me… such a collaboration seems incredibly unlikely.”

The person Atoms is referring to is Michael Ouweleen, current president of Adult Swim who was also the Senior Vice President of Development and Programming at Cartoon Network from 2006 to 2008. Atoms’ The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, a series that followed a boy named Billy and a girl named Mandy who ended up with the Grim Reaper as their best friend in eternal servitude and slavery after winning a limbo game to save Billy’s pet hamster, ended in 2007. A move special, Underfist: Halloween Bash, was intended to be the set up for a spinoff series, but the series was cancelled, seemingly due to Atmos leaving Cartoon Network.

Atoms later followed up with a clarification about his firing from Cartoon Network.

“Just to clarify, Cartoon Network fired everyone back in 2009. They even moved their execs out from Georgia to LA and then fired them too. They let Craig and Genndy go. I certainly can’t take the firing personally. I do take the dressing-down personally. I mean… Let’s say ‘someone’ was producing a problematic show. If I were in charge, the first thing I would do would be to call that person and ask them to change somethings. Failing that, I’d stop ordering new episodes instead of picking up more. And finally, if I decided I was just going to wipe the map clean… I’d just fire everyone and say, ‘Sorry, we’re going a different direction.’”

He continued, “what I wouldn’t do is gather everyone into a big conference room and tear down a project that 1/6th of the studio had been working on for seven years. This was a long, long time ago. It definitely had an impact on my career. But… hey Welcome to the Entertainment Industry. The point of my post wasn’t to start beef, but to stop people from constantly suggesting that I should do an Adult Swim show. I really do appreciate the faith in my mojo, but like I said… such a collaboration is unlikely.”

While Atoms may be unlikely to collaborate on things for Adult Swim, he’s had some other well-known projects since The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy. Atoms went on to work on Fish Hooks for Disney as well as Bunnicula and Teen Titans Go! For Warner Bros. and Cartoon Network.

What do you think about Atoms’ comments? Let us know in the comment section.