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Everything You Need to Know About Netflix’s ‘The Man With 1,000 Kids’ Doc

Every time a Netflix documentary comes out, I lose a little more faith in humanity. Whether that’s dating sites for cheating, Brandy fucking Hellville, or what The Guardian described as “more proof that we should raze human civilization to the ground” — hear, hear! With the to-be moms explaining they’re “not not not gonna have sex with a guy” (honestly, same) and sperm being compared to ice cream, I honestly did not realize what I had signed up for with Netflix’s “The Man with 1000 Kids.” I learned about Sperm Bros, the Luke and Leia Complex, and that a man will eat raw beef on camera and still be chosen as a sperm donor. So because I have to go through all of this, you do too!! Let’s review everything from Jonathan Meijer’s kids to where he is today.

Who is Jonathan Meijer?

At first glance, Jonathan seems like the kind of man you’d swipe left for on a dating app. He’s an avid YouTube vlogger, definitely lists travel and making music as his passions, and is obsessed with his own hair. Don’t get me wrong, a man over thirty who isn’t clinging to a receding hairline? Call the news. But once you get past the lion’s mane, you quickly realize this isn’t someone you’d want to procreate with.

Jonathan is an avid sperm donor, in the same way that Taylor Swift is an “avid” songwriter or Pete Davidson is an “avid” dater of gorgeous women. His sperm got around. Not only did Johnny Boy donate via sperm banks, but he advertised himself as a private donor to women. This started in his home country of the Netherlands (I apologize on behalf of my people), and then he took his little philanthropic enterprise global.

Why does Jonathan donate so much sperm?

THIS IS THE QUESTION ON EVERYONE’S MINDS. As soon as they mentioned these private sperm websites, I wondered why dudes would do it. Why would they bother? Unless they think the women would fuck them rather than turkey baster it (which happened sometimes!!!). 

Jonathan claimed he knew a man in college with fertility issues, so wanted to help people with that same problem. He said he didn’t like that sperm banks charge so much, hence going private. One of his recipients supposedly knew him well and believed it came from Jonathan’s childhood in a big family and never getting enough attention. Now he felt needed and wanted, desired as a baby daddy by all these wannabe moms. 

Well, it seems to be something along these lines. Going private allowed him to donate far more than he should’ve. Plus, his motives got even murkier as the documentary went on…

How many kids does Jonathan Meijer have?

It’s hard to get an exact number, as Jonathan donated in various ways. He made private donations, such as on the Dutch website “Verlangen voor een kind” (which translates to ” longing for a child”). He donated to 11 sperm banks, including Cryo, which sold his seed worldwide. He also traveled and donated in various countries, including Denmark, Mexico, Argentina, and Russia. 

Despite telling people he would stop after helping five families, he just kept going. When confronted, Jonathan would claim he’s “practically quit donating” or is only helping “through a referral.” — are there affiliate links for sperm? He supposedly kept a spreadsheet of all his “gifts” and told one mother there were “150ish, I do keep count” and another heard it was “200.” This seems like a classic case of boy maths.

It’s estimated that through seventeen years of donation, Jonathan could have up to 3000 children worldwide, with at least 1,000 confirmed.

Who is Leon?

It can’t get worse, right? RIGHT? Oh, but it does!! Because a whistleblower came forward, who was involved in the Dutch website “Longing for a child,” and revealed that Jonathan wasn’t working alone. Apparently many of the profiles on the website are fake, and it’s actually Jonathan and his sperm buddy, Leon, behind them. 

Meijer was allegedly collaborating with Leon “to deceive hundreds of women in Holland and all across the world to father as many children as possible.” The whistleblower claimed they were running things together and competing to have as many children as possible. 

He said, “They operated like a cartel, and a cartel works the way that you divide up territory – in their case, dividing up the women.”

But the part that truly made me gasp is when it is revealed the two would frequently mix their sperm deposits together before giving it to a woman. A kind of “sperm roulette,” if you will. SPERM. ROULETTE. So many women discovered that Jonathan might not actually be their baby daddy, but Leon instead, who is believed to have at least 415 children. Where do these men find the time? And the spunk?

And who is the “Lion of Mombasa”?

As if this wasn’t fucked up enough, now the white supremacy comes into the picture. So my eagle eye spotted some alarming vlog titles whenever Jonathan’s account was shown, mentioning the issues in woke culture, “white privilege is a lie,” and that science is fake. This got the bells ringing, but when the “Lion of Mombasa” came up, I was aghast.

Basically, an organization in Kenya paired with some self-appointed “Sperm Bros” (if I had to learn that term, you do too) to bring sperm providers on an all-expenses-paid trip to Kenya. The catch was that they had to jerk into a cup fifty times during their time there. One participant described it as being “milked like a cow” but clarified he enjoyed it. 

This was led by two big names in the sperm game, but the real ringer was Anthony Greenfield. He was quoted saying, “I want to bleach Africa” and “but soon more countries to be colonized by my glorious and mighty white seed.” Yep, not only are these Sperm Bros narcissists and science deniers, but they’re modern-day Nazis!! 

One of the admins of this group was an account called “The Lion of Mombasa,” whom the other Sperm Bros treated like a legend in their circle. It’s believed this was Jonathan because 1. He often claimed he had been compared to a lion thanks to his luscious locks. 2. He listed a lion as his favorite animal. 3. He posted videos in Kenya around this time. Ruh roh.

What are the laws around sperm donation?

There are none!!! Yeah, IDK how given the erm, potential for ACCIDENTAL INCEST? Sperm banks have donors sign a document promising they won’t donate elsewhere, but this isn’t a legal contract nor is it followed up. Even when they were informed about his antics, many just shrugged like, “Not our problem!!” 

But Nicolette got her shit together and made a Facebook group for all the parents affected — “a single mom who works two jobs, who loves her kids and never stops!!!!” The moms teamed up with an American fertility fraud activist, Eve Wiley, and started a case in the Netherlands. “He really fucked with the wrong women!” Nicolette told the camera.

Their snazzy lawyer found that while no laws were against it, this could be considered harmful to individuals, as the kids could accidentally fuck their siblings ew. So it was taken to trial. Johnny Boy was not apologetic and suggested the kids use a symbol on their social media to recognize each other and… not shag? I think he just wanted to show off all his kids more.

They won!! Jonathan was banned from donating more sperm, with a fine of €100,000 each time he does it again. 

Now teams are working to create legal systems against such behavior, as Jonathan is sadly not the only one doing this. Sperm banks have basically no communication with each other about donors, and while some will stop sharing a person’s sperm in one country after a quota is reached, they’ll still do it in all neighboring countries. 

At one point three of Jonathan’s kids were in the same school. That’s a real problem if I remember how much I got around in school.

What does Jonathan have to say about his serial sperm donation?

In a shocking turn of events, he has no remorse and is actually mad at Netflix and the moms! When speaking to Women’s Hour, he essentially alleged that Netflix chose not to include his happy recipients. He claims he did a good thing, and people aren’t grateful enough for it, saying, “I see absolutely nothing wrong with it. I think it’s very good. I see that they [the children] have many friends, they meet with each other.”

One of the moms accurately pointed out that this might be the first time courts have tried to restrict and control a male’s autonomy. Huh, how about that…

Where is Jonathan Meijer now?

According to his thriving YouTube page, this Sperm Bro is still traveling the world, and many of his recent videos show that he’s in Tanzania. He’s posted numerous videos responding to the Netflix documentary, including one claiming that even the title is a lie. He claims only to have about 550 kiddos.

“It’s all about appearance, it’s all about looks, it’s all superficial. This is typical western people,” he said of the parents, seemingly forgetting that he too is part of “western people.”

Sir, please pull your pants up and keep your hands away from your junk for the foreseeable future.

Fleurine Tideman
Fleurine Tideman, a European-based copywriter. She’s interesting (cause she’s from Europe), speaks multiple languages (again, she's from Europe), and is mentally unhinged (despite socialized healthcare). You can find her European musings on Twitter @ByFleurine and her blog, Symptoms of Living, both of which are written to the sounds of unhinged Taylor Swift playlists.