Morgan Spurlock: ‘I Am Part of the Problem’

In his post, he reflected on the details of an encounter that he had when he was a student in college. In that account, he said he “hooked up” with a woman who later wrote a short story for a class about it, accusing him by name of rape.

He said he was “floored” when a friend told him about the woman’s short story. “This wasn’t how I remembered it at all,” he said.

He said that the two went back to his room after a night of drinking. In his account, he said they “started having sex” although she had pushed him off while “fooling around” and saying she did not want to.

At one point the woman started to cry.

“I didn’t know what to do,” Mr. Spurlock wrote. “We stopped having sex and I rolled beside her. I tried to comfort her. To make her feel better. I thought I was doing O.K., I believed she was feeling better. She believed she was raped. That’s why I’m part of the problem.”

In recent months, multiple women have come forward with stories of sexual assault and harassment, particularly after The New York Times and The New Yorker published reports in October about numerous harassment, sexual assault and rape allegations against the Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.

Amid a relentless series of revelations, many high-profile men in the entertainment, news media, restaurant and other industries have been fired or forced to resign. Men in the movie and restaurant business have had projects canceled or suspended.

Mr. Spurlock appears to be an unusual case because he has opened up about his behavior before any public accusation. A representative said in an emailed statement on Thursday that Mr. Spurlock had no further comment.

Advertisement

Continue reading the main story

Mr. Spurlock also said in his statement that about eight years ago, he settled a sexual harassment allegation for calling his assistant “hot pants” or “sex pants” from across the room in the office.

“Something I thought was funny at the time, but then realized I had completely demeaned and belittled her to a place of non-existence,” Mr. Spurlock wrote.

“So, when she decided to quit, she came to me and said if I didn’t pay her a settlement, she would tell everyone. Being who I was, it was the last thing I wanted, so of course, I paid. I paid for peace of mind. I paid for her silence and cooperation. Most of all, I paid so I could remain who I was.”

He said he had been unfaithful to every wife and girlfriend that he has 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,” he wrote. “I hurt them. And I hate it. But it didn’t make me stop.”

In his post, Mr. Spurlock tried to examine the reasons for his actions. He said he was sexually abused as a boy and as a teenager, which he only told his first wife about because he was afraid of “being seen as weak or less than a man.”

“Is it because my father left my mother when I was child? Or that she believed he never respected her, so that disrespect carried over into their son?”

He also said he struggled with daily depression and had been consistently drinking since the age of 13.

Mr. Spurlock said that he hoped, by openly admitting what he had done, that he could change for the better. “I’m finally ready to listen,” he said.

Continue reading the main story

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/14/arts/morgan-spurlock-sexual-misconduct.html?partner=rss&emc=rss