Dogpatch Press

The animation business joins the #metoo movement, a campaign for awareness of sexual harassment that started with powerful people in Hollywood.

John Kricfalusi, creator of the Ren & Stimpy show that gained a cult and influenced many 1990’s TV cartoons, is subject of a report about grooming and sexual abuse of young girls. They were taken under his wing as aspiring artists.

These aren’t just allegations; when he was around 40 he had an underage girlfriend, as mentioned in a book about him, and his attorney admits it was true.

Ren & Stimpy played at the Spike & Mike Animation fest in the 1990’s. I remember getting my mind blown when the fest toured to my town. It inspired me to do indie stuff (like this news site.) There’s more of a furry connection than just fandom, though.

There’s a general industry connection. Since the #metoo campaign came out in October 2017, I’ve been holding on to an animation story by request due to sensitivity about the climate (nothing more than that). Pro talk on a furry site can be a bit tricky because of general stigma.

There’s a personal story too. I didn’t expect this in 2018, because I hadn’t thought about John K. in a while – but I’m not surprised. In the early 2000’s, I saw blog commenters joke about him being a Svengali to pretty young girl artists (I had no idea about the underage part). 15 years ago, give or take, I went to a party at his house in Ontario and saw something myself there.

Trashy! My original fursona is a punk pack rat.

Background to my story: in 2003 I was in Canada, in a sort of punk collective and the animation scene. (That’s how I knew the director of the Furry Force animation I was in for a second; he’s a great friend and we shared space at one point.) I was noncitizen, so I couldn’t take offers of animation studio jobs. That left me homeless and looking for a path while sleeping in boiler rooms, closets or on couches of people I was helping to start projects. Then there was crashing parties – (and sometimes dumpster diving clothes and even food, freegan-style, because sell-by dates aren’t use-by dates on good sealed stuff. But that’s another story!)

John K. was at an animation event I was at. I got his address for the afterparty. His house was 1960’s bachelor-pad style, with vintage kids toys, wrestling vids and a shag carpet party basement thing. I got fed, had some beers, looked at some stacks of intern art submissions, and watched girls get rounded up to a closed room where John was going to play ukelele for them. Only the girls, including hopeful young students. It was a bit odd.

Only in 15 year hindsight does it click into a pattern. Now I can suggest that what I saw is a supporting detail for info that just came out. In 2003, it appeared to be no more than “this stranger is weird”. I neither owned a computer, had a presence online, or was professionally or personally connected enough to follow up, so it was useless info without context.

Also, talking to police was dangerous. I’d been caught in a cop’s spotlight after midnight, diving in a dumpster and retrieving bagged day-old bakery stuff. (Call me if you ever need garbology for investigative journalism.) The cop took my business card for ID, trusted my talk and let me go – unaware that my student visa was expired and I could have been deported across a border and away from people I relied on. That was a scary feeling, and a very small clue about challenges for reporting things.

Now if you can imagine yourself in furry animal paws, think about being brown or a non English speaker in the USA, or underage with a story that’s hard to tell.

John K. was a boss and mentor to people speaking up now, including artists Katie Rice and Robyn Byrd. Cartoon Brew is one of the most active sources for insider news, and the founder (Amid Amidi) had worked with them and John K. In 2018, Amid is praising these women for speaking up. He says the reporting has many details he didn’t know. They’re also commenting on the story in their own words.

I wonder if this has anything to do with 2017 news that Ren & Stimpy were rejected from proposed movies? They cited poor reception for the 2003 “Adult Party Cartoon.” (It could be another furry topic, maybe, about stigma on adult stuff and whether or not abuse was in the equation at the time.)

This is a story about people who misuse power, and fandom knows this well, or it should. Another thing we know well is supporting others. Check out the art and comics of Katie Rice and Robyn Byrd.

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