Dutchman Jonathan Meijer, who is said to have fathered up to 3,000 children through sperm donation according to a Netflix documentary, has announced that he is suing the platform and is questioning this figure.
The Dutch ‘superdonor’ who claims to have fathered 550 children through sperm donation says he is suing Netflix over its hit documentary series The Man with a Thousand Childrenwhich he describes as “sensationalist.”
Jonathan Meijer, who declined to participate in the documentary, said on Dutch public television NPO1 on Tuesday evening that the programme was not based on exact figures.
The documentary claims that the 43-year-old donor fathered up to 3,000 children, a figure denied by the man himself. “550 is the number I know for sure. Anything after that is speculation,” he said on a talk show.
“That’s why I started a lawsuit to fight these lies,” and to make the platform remove the documentary,” he added.
Legal limit of 25 children per donor largely exceeded
A court last year banned Jonathan Meijer from continuing to donate sperm. Dutch clinic guidelines set a limit of 25 children per donor to avoid inbreeding, incest and psychological problems in donor children.
The court found that the “Superdonor” had deliberately misinformed the prospective parents about the number of children he had fathered in the past, causing risks to the children.
Donations stopped in 2019
Jonathan Meijer believes the documentary portrays him in a bad light and harms the children he fathered and their parents, “who are being dragged into a sensationalist Netflix film that is causing damage because they are recognized on the street.”
He also said he stopped donating in 2019, except to families who wanted a second or third child from him. In filing a lawsuit against Netflix, he wants to “protect children from the media’s desire to make them into a kind of spectacle,” he said.
