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The Daily Insight

What Happened To Joel Heyman? Why Did He Leave Rooster Teeth?

Author

James Bradley

Published Feb 22, 2026

Joel Heyman is an American actor best remembered for his role as Michael J. Caboose in the Rooster Teeth web series from 2003 to 2020. Joel was fired from the Rooster Teeth for his inadequate response to the Black Lives Matter movement and his many unwanted behaviors.

Joel traveled to Los Angeles after graduating from college, where he appeared in episodes of Enterprise, Friends, Angel, The Inside, and Alias.

Burnie had started in Austin in 2003 and Matt recruited him to voice a part in a show. Red vs. Blue became a smash hit, launching an entire company, Rooster Teeth Productions, and bringing Joel, whose character Caboose rapidly became a fan favorite, back to Texas.

What Happened To Joel Heyman?

Joel Heyman had contributed his 17 years for the Rooster Teeth but because of his behavior and unnecessary tweets, he was let go.

He relocated to LA after he was given a red signal to return to the show. There are many reasons why Joel was not continued on the show.

Joel posted some Tweets, but instead of showcasing the real issue, his tweets were focused on protestors destroying the neighborhood and he also expressed his support to business owners to get a gun and arm themselves.

Some state that the company became very political and many of the individuals working for RT are far-left SJW types. Joel does not fall under this rather, he leans toward libertarianism.

Joel has been pushed farther out of the picture by some at RT as a result of his beliefs and a few “inappropriate” tweets. For a while, he wasn’t given as much recognition as he used to receive, and he wasn’t recognized as a founder.

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Why Did Joel Heyman Leave Rooster Teeth? Was He Fired?

Joel Heyman was fired from Rooster Teeth, and Joel was penalized for his dissatisfied response to the Black Lives Matter movement, as well as his erratic behavior.

The above-mentioned behaviors included him rooting for John McCain’s Illness (Cancer) to kill him and allegedly posting right-wing conspiracy theories. Joel left Rooster Teeth in November of 2019. This was not made public until June 2020, when he addressed it casually on his own Twitter account.

Joel indicated in a post on June 1, 2020, in response to a fan’s question on Twitter, that he was let off from RT some months ago, possibly in the fall of 2019. He has since moved to Los Angeles.

In 2016, a former employee came up about her experiences with racism at Rooster Teeth. There appeared to be some deeply rooted cultural issues within the organization and Joel was only a part of them.

Rooster Teeth did not directly address Joel’s departure, although they did issue a statement regarding racial inclusivity on their blog.

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Joel Heyman Net Worth: Is He Rich?

Joel has earned the majority of his wealth through Rooster Teeth, his net worth is around $2-3 million.

He co-founded Rooster Teeth with Burnie Burns, Matt Hullum, Geoff Ramsey, and Gus Sorola. Joe also has appeared in a number of their other projects, including The Gauntlet, The Strangerhood, and RWBY.

Heyman was also a regular on The Rooster Teeth Podcast and presented the How To series of Rooster Teeth gaming videos, in which he and fellow worker Adam Ellis play different video games while under the influence of alcohol. He had a brief appearance as a news reporter in the film Lazer Team.