Jonathan Jacob Meijer is a jack of all trades. The Dutchman’s YouTube channel, which dates back nearly 15 years, features hundreds of videos of him making music, teaching, traveling, exercising, philosophizing about life and religion, buying stocks, eating raw meat, and exploring cryptocurrency.
Hiding behind the beachy scenes and touristy destinations that dominate the screen showcasing Meijer’s life, however, is the not-so-well-kept secret of the man’s most prolific hobby: selling his sperm to create what is believed to be thousands of fatherless children all over the world.
Netflix’s “The Man With 1000 Kids” aimed to change that. The three-episode docuseries, which currently ranks at the top of the streaming platform’s top TV shows, begins by highlighting the stories of several single women, homosexual couples, and at least one couple rendered infertile via an irreversible vasectomy who solicited Meijer’s help through private procreation websites to expand their families.
After connecting with him via email, the Netherlands residents made concrete plans to use Meijer’s sperm for rudimentary artificial insemination, or, in some cases, a more traditional babymaking rendezvous. Meijer, who used multiple aliases to converse with his clients, claimed he avoided sperm banks and was sometimes happy to do his work pro bono.
Turns out, Meijer’s seemingly philanthropic effort, which the women featured in the documentary say he repeatedly claimed he limited to five families (an allegation he denies), was a facade.
His sperm-selling scheme was blown wide open when the women who used Meijer to fulfill their desire for children
