Move comes a day after filmmaker wrote confessional post saying "I am part of the problem"
Morgan Spurlock -- one of the most prominent figures in documentary film for over a decade -- is stepping down from his production company, a day after revealing he had been accused of rape as a college student, and years later settled a sexual harassment charge brought by an employee.
"As of today Morgan Spurlock will be stepping down effective immediately,” the filmmaker's partners at Warrior Poets -- co-founder Jeremy Chilnick and Matthew Galkin -- said in a statement. “We will continue to lead the company as equal partners, producing, distributing & creating from our independent production company.” Late Wednesday, Spurlock posted a lengthy commentary linked to his Twitter account, declaring himself to be "part of the problem," a reference to revelations of widespread sexual misconduct in Hollywood and Washington. If I’m going truly represent myself as someone who has built a career on finding the truth, then it’s time for me to be truthful as well.
"As I sit around watching hero after hero, man after man, fall at the realization of their past indiscretions, I don’t sit by and wonder 'who will be next? I wonder, 'when will they come for me?' Spurlock wrote, preemptively offering his own account of misconduct before anyone had publicly accused him.
He detailed what he called a "one night stand" with a woman while he was in college: In my mind, we’d been drinking all night and went back to my room. We began fooling around, she pushed me off, then we laid in the bed and talked and laughed some more, and then began fooling around again. We took off our clothes. She said she didn’t want to have sex, so we laid together, and talked, and kissed, and laughed, and then we started having sex.
Spurlock said the woman made "no charges or investigations, but she wrote about the instance in a short story writing class and called me [out] by name."
Movie posters from some of Morgan Spurlock's films: Super Size Me (2004), Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden? (2008), and The Greatest Movie Ever Sold (2011)
He also wrote of providing a financial settlement to a female employee at his company "around 8 years ago," adding "it wasn't a gropy feely harassment. It was verbal, and it was just as bad."
He continued, "I would call my female assistant 'hot pants' or 'sex pants' when I was yelling to her from the other side of the office. Something I thought was funny at the time, but then realized I had completely demeaned and belittled her to a place of non-existence." I have been unfaithful to every wife and girlfriend I have ever had.
Spurlock further declared he had been "unfaithful to every wife and girlfriend I have ever had. Over the years, I would look each of them in the eye and proclaim my love and then have sex with other people behind their backs... I hurt them. And I hate it. But it didn’t make me stop."
Spurlock, 47, questioned the reasons behind his conduct, writing that he was sexually abused as a boy and "as a young man in my teens." He said he coped with daily depression and "haven’t been sober for more than a week in 30 years." Warrior Poets, the company Spurlock co-founded in 2004, has become one of the active production outfits in all of nonfiction film. Recent projects include Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken, the sequel to the film that put Spurlock on the filmmaking map. Super Size Me 2 premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September and screened just last week at the Dubai International Film Festival in the United Arab Emirates, with the filmmaker on hand. The company has produced television series and specials for FX, CNN, Showtime, Yahoo, Hulu and ESPN. Upcoming projects, according to the company website, include "the Untitled Human Intelligence Project, a feature-length documentary that will explore the field of neuroscience and debate the societal and ethical implications of emerging technology; Spurlock will direct as well as produce. Additional upcoming projects also include executive producing the Food Network TV series 'I Hart Food' starring YouTube sensation Hannah Hart and a collaboration with Sarah Jessica Parker and Refinery29 on the TNT docu-series 'Who Run The World?'" IMDB describes Who Run the World? as a documentary series that "looks at the role of women in the workplace--how far women have come and how far society still has to go to achieve equality." The status of all those projects is uncertain following today's announcement. As for Spurlock, he said he plans to focus on "rebuild[ing] the trust and the respect of those I love most. I’m not sure I deserve it, but I will work everyday to earn it back... I will do better. I will be better. I believe we all can." He finished his post by writing, "The only individual I have control over is me. So starting today, I’m going to be more honest with you and myself. I’m going to lay it all out in the open. Maybe that will be a start. Who knows. But I do know I’ve talked enough in my life … I’m finally ready to listen." In response to a comment from Twitter user Kimberlee Lenz, who saluted Spurlock for speaking out but asked whether he was "seeking help," Spurlock replied, "Am seeking help - thanks Kimberlee."
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AuthorMatthew Carey is a documentary filmmaker and journalist. His work has appeared on Deadline.com, CNN, CNN.com, TheWrap.com, NBCNews.com and in Documentary magazine. |