Morgan Spurlock’s documentary Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken! has been withdrawn from the Sundance Film Festival after he admitted to sexual misconduct earlier this week.
On Wednesday, Spurlock confessed in a post on his verified Twitter account to being accused of rape while in college and settling a sexual harassment case with a female assistant at his office eight years ago. Spurlock has stepped down from the company Warrior Poets, which he co-founded in 2004.
Spurlock’s partners in Warrior Poets said on Friday that the sequel to his acclaimed 2004 documentary Super Size Me, about McDonalds and the food processing industry, will not be showing at Sundance in January 2018. Jeremy Chilnick and Matthew Galkin said in a statement that “this is not the appropriate time” for the film to be premiered, Associated Press reported. Super Size Me 2, which examines the food processing industry’s claims to producing healthy alternatives, has also been dropped by its online distributor YouTube Red, according to Hollywood Reporter.
Another Warrior Poets production, The Devil We Know, has also been affected. The film looks at the effects of chemical pollution and features environmental activist Erin Brockovich. Spurlock has agreed to end his association with The Devil We Know, producer Kristin Lazure said in a statement.
In his post, titled I am part of the Problem, Spurlock wrote, “When I was in college, a girl who I hooked up with on a one night stand accused me of rape. Not outright. There were no charges or investigations, but she wrote about the instance in a short story writing class and called me by name.” Spurlock wrote that although he had a different memory of the incident, he recognised the value of consent: “I thought I was doing ok, I believed she was feeling better. She believed she was raped. That’s why I’m part of the problem.”
Spurlock then admitted to settling a sexual harassment allegation at his office: “This was around 8 years ago, and it wasn’t a gropy feely harassment. It was verbal, and it was just as bad. 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.”
Spurlock also came clean on being unfaithful “to every wife and girlfriend” he has had. He wrote, “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. The worst part is, I’m someone who consistently hurts those closest to me. From my wife, to my friends, to my family, to my partners & co-workers. I have helped create a world of disrespect through my own actions.”