Featured Image Credit: Netflix
Topics: TV and Film, Netflix, True Crime, Documentaries
Bec Oakes
If there's one thing Netflix does well, it's films and shows about real life crime cases.
Earlier this year, Baby Reindeer let fans in on the horrifying reality of being stalked, while the Louis Theroux's Tell Them You Love Me explored the 'unsettling' sexual relationship between a university professor and a non-verbal student.
But, the streaming giant's latest true crime offering, which arrives on the platform tomorrow (3 July), has left people divided from the trailer alone.
The Man With 1000 Kids tells the story of Jonathan Meijer; a sperm donor from the Netherlands.
He told prospective families that he only intended on donating his sperm a handful of times. But as the title suggests, this was not the case.
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In total, Meijer has fathered an estimated 1,000 children around the world.
Following a civil lawsuit last year, a Dutch court ordered him to stop donating sperm and subjected him to a €100,000 (£84,800) fine for any future infractions.
He was also instructed to request the destruction of any of his sperm that was being held in clinics.
Throughout three episodes, Meijer's 'twisted' story is told by experts and the families defrauded by his actions.
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Speaking about him, the documentary's director Josh Allot told Tudum: "You get one life on this Earth — why has he chosen to use his charm and his intellect and his creativity in order to try to procreate on a mass scale and deceive all these people?
"Speaking to lots of different parents that have met him and people that know him well, it seems like it almost became an addiction for him."
But, prior to the series' release, its trailer has left people divided over whether the Meijer was actually to blame.
Taking to X, one person argued that the sperm banks should be held responsible, writing: "Shouldn’t they blame the sperm banks and not the donor? Aren’t the banks regulated? They should be the ones to stop the guy from donating?"
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Others, however, fully blame Meijer for his actions.
One said: "Just imagine if he has a very rare disease or condition, all the 1000 babies will inherit it."
But some didn't understand what the problem was at all.
"I’m very confused why they’re all upset," one user commented. "They went to a facility to get pregnant, you got pregnant, had the baby you wanted.
"Yeah it’s a ton of kids but you don’t have to take care of those kids and clearly there’s a demand for his type."
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You can be the judge of that yourself when The Man With 1000 Kids drops on Netflix on 3 July.