- “The Man with 1000 Kids” sheds light on Jonathan Jacob Meijer, a prolific sperm donor.
- It showcases families who used his donations and later discovered the extent of his offspring.
- Meijer expressed his intentions to sue Netflix in an interview with Business Insider.
“The Man with 1000 Kids” recounts the stories of four couples and a single woman who gradually learned that their donor had fathered numerous children.
The docuseries exposes how Meijer misled those who used his services by claiming to have assisted only a few families. However, as parents in the Netherlands noticed similarities among the children conceived from different donors, it became evident that his claims were untrue. It was later revealed that he had been donating sperm globally.
The families grew concerned about the potential risks to future generations if unknowing half-siblings ended up having children together.
A man named John, part of a couple who used Meijer’s donations, expressed on the show: “We started to worry, ‘What if these children meet and develop a connection or fall in love, unaware that they are related?’ That’s when the real fear set in. That’s when we realized the true danger of this situation.”
Meijer’s Sperm Donation Privileges Revoked in the Netherlands
In April of last year, the Hague District Court in the Netherlands banned Meijer from donating sperm to fertility clinics after it was discovered that he had fathered over 500 children, as reported by The Independent.
He faces a 100,000 euro fine for each violation should he resume donating.
An unnamed sperm donor disclosed in the series that Meijer and another man named Leon operated a website called “Longing for a Child” to maximize their offspring. The anonymous donor alleged that Meijer and Leon mixed their sperm samples in a practice dubbed “sperm roulette” to determine the child’s characteristics.
Meijer refuted these claims in an email to Business Insider, denying involvement in running the website.
“I never managed a website, there is no evidence to support that. I posted my advertisement on that site during my early years of donating, from 2008 to 2014,” he clarified. “I am uncertain of Leon’s actions; I only met him 4-5 times in my life, and he passed away two years ago.”
Regarding the Netflix portrayal, Meijer stated: “I intend to pursue legal recourse for defamation; these allegations are outrageous! I will take legal action not only concerning the sperm mixing but also other accusations.”
Netflix did not provide a comment to Business Insider’s inquiry.
Meijer Continues to Share Travel Videos on YouTube
The series depicts Meijer’s extensive travel as part of his job, which prevented some of the involved mothers from meeting him face-to-face when they discovered the magnitude of his children conceived through his donations.
He regularly shares videos on his YouTube channel discussing various topics such as spirituality, traditional marriages, raw food diets, and his reactions to “The Man with 1000 Kids.”
On May 5, he posted a video from Tanzania, explaining his decision to leave the Netherlands due to overpopulation, seeking a closer connection to nature.
In his latest upload on Wednesday, Meijer was on a beach in Zanzibar, off the east coast of Africa, recounting his over 50,000 hours spent as a sperm donor until 2019 when he ceased clinic donations.
Read the original article on Business Insider
