Petition To Halt Comedy Central’s ‘Ren & Stimpy’ Reboot Passes 11,000 Signatures

In 2018, Buzzfeed published a report detailing Kricfalusi’s inappropriate and abusive behavior toward two underage girls, Byrd and Katie Rice. In the article, Byrd described her traumatic relationship with the artist, which began when she was a minor. She later revealed on Twitter that she’d had an abortion during her relationship with Kricfalusi, criticizing his handling of the situation.

“I know how some of John’s other victims feel,” Byrd tells Cartoon Brew, “because many of us are friends. I’ve known Katie Rice since the 1990s, and I have met more women who John either groomed as children or emotionally abused as grown women. So I’m speaking for many of us, and we are in agreement on the reboot.”

A new documentary, Happy Happy Joy Joy — The Ren & Stimpy Story, traces the history of the show’s initial run, and also addresses the later revelations about Kricfalusi. In the film, Byrd encourages fans of the original episodes to keep watching them if they want to, suggesting that they try to divorce their enjoyment from Kricfalusi’s input.

“The difference between a reboot and watching old episodes is a big one,” she tells us. “We can’t erase Ren & Stimpy, but we don’t have to popularize it all over again and bring new attention to its creator. I don’t care if people want to watch the old shows. But a new one isn’t an appropriate way to spend young artists’ time … I think young people, marginalized voices especially, should be who the execs are listening to.”