Rick and Morty should be forgiven for its toxic fandom

Fast Company

"Watching the season 4 premiere on Sunday night—the first episode in nearly two years—I managed to make it through all 22 minutes without thinking about the show’s poison-brained fans," says Joe Berkowitz. "It’s as funny and creative as ever, if perhaps a bit too self-referential, and it has throwaway lines I could probably mull over for at least 22 more minutes. After the episode ended, though, I’d lost the desire to talk about it. Or rather, I could hardly think of anyone to talk about it with, so internalized is my certainty that actual smart people now think this 'smart' show is hot garbage for mean dorks. It doesn’t have to be this way, though. It’s hard to constantly separate the art from the artist when so many creators turn out to be dirtbags, but separating the art from its fans should be easy." ALSO: Adult Swim Festival to unveil the "Rick and Morty: Show Us What You Got! Volumetric Reality" activation.