It's been a bad few days for big stars who have had their Twitter accounts or online personas trawled for past controversies.
Following James Gunn's firing from 'Guardians of the Galaxy 3' for distasteful tweets dating from 2008 and 2009, Dan Harmon - creator of 'Rick and Morty' and 'Community' - has deleted his Twitter account and apologised after video footage of a controversial old sketch has re-emerged.
In the five-minute sketch - called 'Daryl', intended as a satire of the TV series 'Dexter' - Harmon plays a therapist who repeatedly molests babies. It first aired at Channel 101, the Los Angeles short film festival that Harmon co-founded, in 2009. The monthly festival is known for showing taboo and/or shocking films.
The sketch was reportedly removed from the festival's site in 2012 without explanation, but over the weekend it resurfaced on 4Chan and was being shared around far-right subReddit The_Donald.
Harmon released a statement last night apologising for the sketch, saying: "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.”
Network Adult Swim, which broadcasts the hugely successful 'Rick and Morty', released their own statement saying: "“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.”
Harmon has since deleted his Twitter account.
