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Morgan Spurlock, director of Oscar-nominated documentary Super Size Me, dies aged 53
Morgan Spurlock's family announced that he died on Thursday, May 23.
Morgan Spurlock, the filmmaker-star of 2004 documentary Super Size Me, has died at the age of 53. Spurlock’s family announced on Friday, May 24, that he died on Thursday, May 23. He passed away from complications of cancer.
“It was a sad day, as we said goodbye to my brother Morgan,” his brother Craig Spurlock reportedly said in a statement. “Morgan gave so much through his art, ideas, and generosity. The world has lost a true creative genius and a special man. I am so proud to have worked together with him.”
Spurlock is survived by his two sons, Laken and Kallen; mother Phyllis Spurlock; father Ben (Iris); brothers Craig (Carolyn) and Barry (Buffy); several nieces and nephews; and former wives Alexandra Jamieson and Sara Bernstein, who are the mothers of his children.
Super Size Me bagged an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary Feature. In the documentary, he examines the fast food industry while challenging himself to eat meals at McDonald's for a whole month.
Spurlock’s other documentaries include Where in the World Is Osama bin Laden (2008), The Greatest Movie Ever Sold (2011), plus the sequel Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!
When Morgan Spurlock settled a sexual harassment allegation
Amid the #MeToo movement, Spurlock said in a 2017 essay that he was "part of the problem.” He confessed that he once had to settle a sexual harassment allegation one of his assistants made. In an interview in 2019, he said he became sober as he made amends for how he behaved.
"I’ve tried to make right with my family, and to make amends, to people over the years that I felt like I should’ve treated better along the way. That’s a big part of the journey, right now," he told Deadline at the time.
"Part of the reason I wrote that essay in the first place was to be on the right side of it. I’m hopeful that in time, with the work that I do and the changes that I continue to go through, that I can be there on the right side,” he added.
