Whether it be from watching “Super Size Me” during your high school health class or fan-girling over your favorite boy-band in the documentary “One Direction: This Is Us,” you’re probably familiar with writer, actor and director Morgan Spurlock.
Unfortunately, Spurlock is not making his rounds in the news recently for his efforts in the filmmaking world. The Washington Post reports that on Wednesday, Spurlock went “against the grain” and admitted to years of his sexual harassment and misconduct against colleagues and classmates, co-workers and his two wives, tweeting a blog post and writing “I am part of the problem.”
I am Part of the Problem
Read: https://t.co/MfRAtm3fcv
— Morgan Spurlock (@MorganSpurlock) December 14, 2017
After months of witnessing woman upon woman coming forward with her story, Spurlock explains in his blog post that he wondered, “when will they come for me?” Realizing that he’s not some innocent bystander, Spurlock took it upon himself to call out his own sexual misconduct. Detailing each account from his own perspective, whether it had been verbal or physical, Spurlock repeats “I am part of the problem” after each account.
In one instance, Spurlock writes about what he remembers from a “hook-up” from his college days, where the girl later accused him of rape.
“In my mind, we’d been drinking all night and went back to my room,” Spurlock writes. “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.”
“‘Light Bright,’ she said,” Spurlock remembers. “‘What?’ ‘Light bright. That kids toy, that’s all I can see and think about,’ she said… and then she started to cry. I didn’t know what to do. We stopped having sex and I rolled beside her. 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. That’s why I’m part of the problem.”
Spurlock goes on to recall an incident that occurred at work about 8 years ago, where he verbally harassed a co-worker by calling her “hot pants” or “sex pants.” Additionally, he remembers the mistreatment of his previous girlfriends and wives.
“And then there’s the infidelity,” Spurlock writes. “I have been unfaithful to every wife and girlfriend I have ever had. 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.”
Spurlock questions his history of sexual misconduct, speculating where exactly it roots from. Ultimately, Spurlock acknowledges that just as much as he is part of the problem, he can also be a part of the solution.
“The only individual I have control over is me. So starting today, I’m going to be more honest with you and myself,” Spurlock wrote. “I’m going to lay it all out in the open. Maybe that will be a start. Who knows. But I do know I’ve talked enough in my life… I’m finally ready to listen.”
Although Spurlock’s confession comes as a major change of pace compared to other other allegations in Hollywood (and some Twitter users thanked him for his honesty), many were not quick to praise Spurlock for his coming forward: “Morgan Spurlock is not brave, he’s trying to get ahead of the story and give you a reason so when you hear about how garbage he is, you think of the reason,” comedian Peter Coffin wrote on Twitter, as The Washington Post notes.
Morgan Spurlock is not brave, he’s trying to get ahead of the story and give you a reason so when you hear about how garbage he is, you think of the reason.
Also his documentary is literally just him eating McDonald’s for a month.
— Soyter Krampus (@petercoffin) December 14, 2017
While not everyone can agree on the motive behind Spurlock’s confession, hopefully it can serve as an example for those who have committed sexual harassment and misconduct but won’t admit the problem.