A Netflix documentary claims Jonathan has 1,000 kids. He's telling a different story.

Off the back of the disturbing claims made in Netflix's The Man with 1000 Kids, the documentary's subject has responded via a 22-minute response uploaded to his YouTube channel.

Because of course, he has. 

The Man with 1000 Kids explores the controversial story of Jonathan Meijer, a YouTuber and Dutch sperm donor who is believed to have fathered hundreds, possibly thousands, of children worldwide. 

Beginning his donations in 2007, Meijer evaded the law limiting donors to 25 children by donating to multiple sperm banks and private donations, which led to him potentially fathering over 1000 children. The three-part series features interviews with affected families who discovered Meijer was a serial donor. These revelations sparked concerns about genetic risks and the possibility of inbreeding among half-siblings who are unaware they're related. 

Legal recourse has since been taken against Meijer, including bans on further donations and fines. However, the exact number of children he has fathered remains uncertain, with estimates ranging to up to 3000 kids in the documentary. 

Watch the trailer for The Man With 1000 Kids. Post continues after video.

Since the series premiered, Jonathan has been posting constantly on his YouTube channel. So far, he has released five videos targeting the documentary. 

Meijer, who declined to participate in the docuseries, claimed in multiple videos that it is deceptive. 

"What kind of man would do that?" Meijer said in a video.

"Well, it has to be a man that’s willing to help others, and a man that sees that he can, with his life, do something more than just live for himself, work for himself, and he wants to be useful to others. That's the kind of man that does it, and I’m not an exception." 

Jonathan says he stopped donating sperm in 2019, has denied he has an addiction to donating and rejects his characterisation in the series as a 'serial donor.'

"I dislike the word serial, because every donor is a serial [donor]. It’s just like, a donor helps multiple families. That's quite common; it’s quite normal," Meijer claims.

"This is really already adding this extreme negative aspect in the documentary, like 'serial' — serial killer, serial donor."

In another video (actually) titled 'Why I am a VERY GOOD Donor :)', he said "Sure, I have made some mistakes over the years. And I will take responsibility, also, for the mistakes. But eventually, I think — and this is also what the majority of recipients, of parents, think — is that I’m a very good donor."

Jonathan has posted several videos to defend himself. Image: YouTube/@JonathanJacobMeijer.

The Dutch YouTuber added in one video that he denied the documentary’s allegation that he had mixed his sperm with another donor’s in an attempt to find out whose genes would "win." He said this was a "blatant lie," before stating in a video that he would pursue a slander suit if Netflix didn't cut that part out of the three-episode series. 

Meijer claims he has fathered around 550 children, not the 1,000 implied by the documentary's title. Throughout his videos, he emphasised his altruistic intentions in becoming a sperm donor, explaining that he was inspired by a college friend who was infertile.

Since the release of the documentary, Meijer's YouTube channel has seen a significant increase in subscribers, jumping to over 14,200. 

He has given a range of press interviews to refute the claims made in the Netflix documentary. In a chat with BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour, he suggested a title change. 

"They deliberately called [the documentary] The Man With 1,000 Kids, when it should be 'the sperm donor who helped families conceive with 550 children'," he told the program.

"So already from the start they are deliberately deceiving and misleading."

He went on to suggest the documentary intentionally excluded families with positive experiences. "I think Netflix did a great job at selecting five families [who are unhappy] out of the 225 families that I've helped, and they [the other families] will definitely tell you something else," he said. 

Despite all his qualms with the Netflix documentary, the director Josh Allott told Netflix’s Tudum that he met with Meijer to encourage him to participate in the documentary.

"We approached him a number of times to be interviewed and gave him a right to reply at the end," Allott said. "He refused to comment on any of the allegations in the series."

On his YouTube channel, Jonathan said he declined to be included in the documentary as he wanted to "do my own story."

Feature image: Netflix/YouTube/@JonathanJacobMeijer.