Ren & Stimpy creator John Kricfalusi apologizes to women who accused him of sexual misconduct
John Kricfalusi, the creator of “The Ren & Stimpy Show,” offered a semblance of an apology to two women who accused him of grooming them for sexual relationships when they were 13 and 15, respectively.
“The last thing I want to do is aggravate bad feelings that already exist. These feelings are obviously real and strong and I understand them much better now,” he wrote on Facebook.
“It’s not pretty to have to stare myself in the face and see myself the way those who I’ve hurt see me. I imagine many other men are waking up and feeling the shame I’ve felt for years. I welcome a social change in our attitudes toward women and how we should treat them with respect and equality.”
Near the end of the 11-page letter, Kricfalusi said that he had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and ADHD in the late 2000s, “a combination that makes it almost impossible to control your impulses and obsessions.”
“I’m left with a feeling of shame for my lack of control and past behaviour so I apologize to everyone who expected more from me,” he wrote. “Extreme people can have extreme flaws. I didn’t ask for mine, but for years now have finally been able to control them.”
In late March, Robyn Byrd told BuzzFeed News that she began corresponding with Kricfalusi in 1994, when she was 13 and he was 39. Three years later, she claims he groped her when she visited him in Los Angeles. A year later, she moved in with him.
“He ruined a good bit of my childhood and my early adulthood, gave me PTSD and forced me to change careers, putting my life 10 years or more behind,” she told BuzzFeed.
“He is an abuser in the way that he will pull you into a relationship with him and then tell you who to be and what he wants from you . ... Everybody needs to know about it.”
In the comments on his Facebook post, Byrd refused to accept Kricfalusi’s apology.
“I don’t find any apology strong or heartfelt enough for taking away a person’s adolescent motivation, her hopes to be an artist and her sexual agency,” she wrote.
“We don’t accept this nonapology, neither do any of the other girls he doesn’t bother to mention, and it’s a big pile of manipulative crap. There you go.”
Katie Rice, who now goes by Katie Wallander, also told BuzzFeed Kricfalusi sent her “flirty letters.” She also claimed she found child porn on his computer and reported it to the LAPD in 2017, but no warrant was issued.