Rick and Morty is, like perhaps too many works of fiction, about a genius who gets away with being a massive jerk, at least in part. As great as the show is (and as much deeper than that premise as it digs), that also attracts plenty of people who don’t seem to grasp that the message of the show is not that being a jerk is actually great and totally OK, even if they were anywhere near as smart as Rick Sanchez (they are not).

With the show’s writers’ room seeing brand new gender parity for its third season, some of those jerks have taken the opportunity to channel their jerk-energies into sexist harassment of the women writing for the show. Too predictably, they seem to see themselves as standing up to protect boys’ territory from women, the same (ridiculous) thing we hear about plenty of other properties that dare to incorporate more women, either on-screen or in the creative process, though Star Wars leaps to mind as a big recent example.

Rick and Morty Co-Creator Dan Harmon isn’t having it, though, and he wants to make that crystal clear to any fans who think their harassment and doxxing of the show’s female writers is somehow helpful to him or the show. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Harmon took these harassers to task, mocking them for “patting themselves on the back” for getting a reaction out of their targets. “I think it’s all disgusting,” he added, calling them out for “their need to be proud of something they have, which is often only their race or gender.”

But beyond all that, he also explained that singling out any one writer is ridiculous because of the collaborative writing process. So be on notice, sexist jerks who like cartoons: You may think you’ve gotten to know Dan Harmon through his work and that he’d be on your side, but you’d be very, very wrong. He does not like you, and frankly, it’s pretty clear that the show is not your territory at all—especially not more than it’s anyone else’s—since it’s very obviously going over your head if you think it fits well with your backwards worldview.

(image: Adult Swim)

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