Ren & Stimpy creator John Kricfalusi, 62, is the subject of a detailed and highly disturbing story in Buzzfeed in which a former teenage girlfriend and a former Spumco employee detail inappropriate — and in some cases illegal — behavior.
The two main accusers in the story, Robyn Byrd and Katie Rice, discuss at length how Kricfalusi groomed and preyed upon them when they were teenagers. Both eventually were offered internships or jobs at the studio. Byrd’s relationship turned into a physical sexual relationship that lasted for a number of years; Rice’s relationship was non-physical.
Byrd described her relationship with Kricfalusi, which began when she was 16 years old, and which continued off-and-on until she was 22 years old. In emails and in-person interviews with Buzzfeed, she said, “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,” further adding, “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.”
