07/04/24 - The News

Thursday, July 4, 2024

Sperm donor says Netflix series is misleading

July 04, 2024 0

 A Dutch sperm donor who fathered hundreds of children has described a new documentary about him as "misleading".



A Netflix docuseries, released on Wednesday, focuses on the women who have had children using the sperm of Jonathan Jacob Meijer.

One woman has said she felt "betrayed, sad and angry" after finding out how many other children Meijer had fathered.

But Meijer told the BBC the documentary is deceptive because it gives prominence to those who are unhappy rather than the many families he says are grateful to him.

Responding to the interview, its executive producer described the claim that the majority of families are happy as "completely untrue".

In the interview, Meijer also said he sees "absolutely nothing wrong" with fathering hundreds of children.


The 43-year-old declined to be interviewed for the Netflix documentary, but he spoke to BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour on Wednesday.

"They deliberately called [the documentary] The Man With 1,000 Kids, when it should be 'the sperm donor who helped families conceive with 550 children'," he told the programme.

"So already from the start they are deliberately deceiving and misleading."

He continued: "I think Netflix did a great job at selecting five families [who are unhappy] out of the 225 families that I've helped, and they [the other families] will definitely tell you something else."

Netflix told Woman's Hour it would not comment on Meijer's interview, but Natalie Hill, the documentary's executive producer, did speak to the programme.

"I've spent the last four years speaking to families who have been impacted by Jonathan's lies. I've personally spoken to 45 or 50 families," she said.

"Fifty families made impact statements to the court about his lies, and pleaded with the judge that he stop. So this continued platform for Jonathan to talk about it being a handful of women is completely untrue."

Meijer has been a donor for 17 years. In many cases, he made donations privately, which meant dealing with the families directly rather than via a private clinic.

Some women who chose him as a donor say he did not make clear to them the extent of how many other children he had fathered.

"I'm conflicted because he told me back then that he was donating to five families," one mother, Natalie, told Woman's Hour.

"It turned out in 2021 I read an article in a newspaper that it was hundreds of families. That's why I'm conflicted and don't agree with his methods."

Some women he has donated to have described him as "a narcissist", while others have suggested he represents a public health risk.

Asked if he thought his estimate of 550 children was a lot, Meijer said: "It is for a normal man, but not for a sperm donor.

"For a sperm donor it's quite common. They go up into the hundreds of children. They [the clinics] will ship the donor semen to multiple countries."

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51 hot dogs in 10 minutes

July 04, 2024 0

 Dental hygiene student Miki Sudo of Florida has won her 10th title at the annual Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July hot dog eating contest.



Sudo consumed 51 hot dogs in 10 minutes on Thursday in New York City — and set a new world record for women.

The 38-year-old defending champion last year won after forcing down 39 1/2 hot dogs. She defeated 13 competitors from around the world, including 28-year-old rival Mayoi Ebihara of Japan. Ebihara came in second after eating 37 hot dogs in 10 minutes. She was also the runner-up in 2023.

With the event's biggest star —- Joey “Jaws” Chestnut — out of the contest this year, Sudo’s result set up a possible scenario in which the women’s champ out-eats the men’s winner. Geoffrey Esper, who came second last year, also has a personal best of 51, but only ate 49 last year.

Chestnut, who won 16 out of the previous 17 contests, isn't attending the competition over a sponsorship tiff. Instead, he'll compete against soldiers at a U.S. Army base in El Paso later in the day. That leaves the traditional Brooklyn event wide open for a new winner in the men's division, with eaters from around the world competing on America's Independence Day to see how many hot dogs they can eat in 10 minutes.

Thousands of fans flock each year to the event held outside the original Nathan’s location in Brooklyn's Coney Island, a beachfront destination with amusement parks and a carnivalesque summer culture. ESPN is broadcasting the contest live. The men’s will begin at approximately 12:20 p.m.

Competitors are coming from over a dozen states and five continents, with prospects from Brazil, Japan, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Australia and the Czech Republic vying for the coveted title and $10,000 prize money.

There's going to be a new champion,” Australian James Webb, who holds a world record for eating 70 doughnuts in eight minutes, said at a preview event in New York on Wednesday.

Last year Chestnut, of Indiana, chewed his way to the title by downing 62 dogs and buns in 10 minutes. The record, which he set in 2021, is 76.

“I'm going to be pushing myself,” Sudo said Wednesday. Her rival Mayoi Ebihara, from Japan, said through a translator that she would eat until she passes out, with a goal of downing 50 hot dogs.

Chestnut was initially disinvited from the event over a sponsorship deal with Impossible Foods, a company that specializes in plant-based meat substitutes.

Major League Eating, which organizes the Nathan’s Famous contest, has since said it walked back the ban, but Chestnut decided to spend the holiday with the troops anyway.

Chestnut said he wouldn’t return to the Coney Island contest without an apology.

The event at the Fort Bliss army base in El Paso, scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. ET, will use traditional franks, with Chestnut attempting to out-eat four soldiers in five minutes.

Even though he won't be eating their vegan products, Impossible Foods is promoting Chestnut's YouTube livestream of the exhibition by flying airplanes with banners over Los Angeles and Miami. The company will also donate to an organization supporting military families based on the number of hot dogs eaten at the event, a spokesperson said.


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