David Farnor | On 19, Dec 2017

YouTube has dropped Morgan Spurlock’s Super Size Me 2 from its upcoming slate of original titles, following the filmmaker’s confession to sexual misconduct.

The director, who became a famed documentarian with his fast food film Super Size Me, posted on Twitter a lengthy admission of past instances of sexual misconduct, revealing an accusation of rape and an out-of-court settlement for allegations of sexual harassment within a workplace.

“I’ve come to understand after months of these revelations, that I am not some innocent bystander, I am also a part of the problem,” he wrote.

YouTube picked up Super Size Me 2 earlier this year at the Toronto International Film Festival. The $3.5 million deal added the movie to the growing library of exclusives and originals set to be released on YouTube’s subscription service, YouTube Red.

In the wake of Spurlock’s confession, YouTube promptly responded with a statement to THR announcing that it dropped the movie.

“We feel for all of the women impacted by the recent statements made by Morgan Spurlock,” said the statement. “In light of this situation, we have decided not to distribute Super Size Me 2 on YouTube Red.”

Spurlock also stepped down from Warrior Poets, the producers of the sequel. The production company also announced that it would pull the film from the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, where the movie was set to premiere.

“Due to Morgan Spurlock stepping down from Warrior Poets, we the partners have decided that this is not the appropriate time for Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken! to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival,” said the firm’s co-founder Jeremy Chilnick and partner Matthew Galkin in a joint statement. “Therefore, we will be removing the documentary from the festival’s slate.”

It is the latest in a number of streaming service productions to be cancelled or scrapped due to allegations of sexual misconduct, from Netflix’s House of Cards and The Ranch to Amazon’s Transparent.

Photo: TIFF

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