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Super Size Me’s Morgan Spurlock admits sexual misconduct: ‘I am part of the problem’

Written by on 15/12/2017

Morgan Spurlock, the director of hit documentaries including Super Size Me, has admitted to a history of sexual misconduct.

The US filmmaker posted the confession online in a blog post titled "I am Part of the Problem", saying that he was once accused of rape and settled a sexual harassment claim.

The 47-year-old wrote: "As I sit around watching hero after hero, man after man, fall at the realisation of their past indiscretions, I don’t sit by and wonder "who will be next?" I wonder, "when will they come for me?"

"You see, I’ve come to understand after months of these revelations, that I am not some innocent bystander, I am also a part of the problem."

He detailed a sexual encounter in college after which a friend had told him that the woman he had slept with had accused him of rape.

"I was floored. ‘That’s not what happened!’ I told her. This wasn’t how I remembered it at all," he said.

"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."

She became upset, he said, and they stopped. "I tried to comfort her. To make her feel better. I thought I was doing ok, I believed she was feeling better. She believed she was raped," he wrote.

Spurlock also admitted calling a former employee "hot pants" and "sex pants" in the office, and paying her a settlement when she quit.

He said "it wasn’t a gropey feely harassment. It was verbal, and it was just as bad".

"Something I thought was funny at the time, but then realised I had completely demeaned and belittled her to a place of non-existence."

Spurlock also confessed to being "unfaithful to every wife and girlfriend I have ever had".

In an attempt to explain his actions, he said he was sexually abused as a boy and in his teens and that he started drinking when he was aged 13 and hadn’t "been sober for more than a week in 30 years".

He also referred to the time his father left his mother when he was a child, and questioned if her belief that her husband "never respected her" had "carried over into their son".

"I am part of the problem. We all are," he continued.

"But I am also part of the solution. By recognising and openly admitting what I’ve done to further this terrible situation, I hope to empower the change within myself. We should all find the courage to admit we’re at fault."

Spurlock’s blog post comes as Hollywood faces intense scrutiny in the wake of allegations against once powerful figures such as Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey and Louis CK.

Former movie mogul Weinstein is facing criminal investigations in London, New York and Los Angeles after more than 50 women – including stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie, Rose McGowan and Uma Thurman – have accused him of harassment and assault.

Salma Hayek is the latest actress to speak out against him, branding him a "monster" and claiming he once told her: "I will kill you, don’t think I can’t."

Weinstein has denied ever engaging in "non-consensual sexual conduct".

(c) Sky News 2017: Super Size Me’s Morgan Spurlock admits sexual misconduct: ‘I am part of the problem’