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He eventually also lost his production company, Warrior Poets. Coming clean personally imploded Spurlock's life professionally and hurt the people closest to him. But as the vet hired to do an onscreen autopsy tells us, this is normal and the birds are not harmful to eat.. While that's understandable given the current climate in Hollywood andSpurlock'sreprehensible revelations, it's hard not feel some sympathy for the farmers who also gave their hearts, souls and trust to the once-populardocumentarianand it seems a shame that viewers around the globe have been denied the chance to view a fascinating and rage-inducing documentary. When they sit down there [and it's] wet and there's methane and ammonia coming up and it burns their breast, burns their paws and they have a hard time getting the food and water, he said. will be making an appearance in New York later this month on 18 West 23rd Street. We want to give you permission to laugh in the places where it's really hard to laugh," he said. But I am also part of the solution.. Jonathan Buttram, the outspoken Alabama farmer responsible for all those Holy Chickens, was on hand Monday and bristled at accusations that the operation is a stunt and that the chickens are from . His dual role as filmmaker and restaurateur means that Super Size Me 2 does not just do the documentarians work of nudging audiences to eat their vegetables. Two years later, Spurlock is looking for professional redemption. ahead of its debut at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. Nobody came forward to pressure me. Anyone can read what you share. . Food is an experience, says Darby Hughes, one of the strategist talking heads interviewed on camera. Buttram helps Spurlock because he wants to expose the practices of the regulatory board and how they are destroying the livelihoods of chicken farmers across the US who don't adhere to their every whim. Buttram Farms in Alabama raised the chicken served at the restaurant. may skip that menu item once they learn about the cruelty and dishonesty used to make it. "For the last two years while the movie was sitting on the shelf, all I did was work it and try to get the movie out," said Spurlock. I think what we can do is start to at least put a message out there, that there is a better way, that there's a different way The way well beat them is creat[ing] a truly farm-to-table, local fast food restaurant., Watch the full story on "Nightline" TONIGHT at 12:35 a.m. Charles Morris, a Kentucky based chicken farmer who is currently engaged in a multi-million-dollar lawsuit against Tyson Foods. Rated PG-13 for language, themes, a poultry autopsy. "Right now, our best bet is for people to go and support 'Holy Chicken' because if it gets off and gets up and running we're looking at a nationwide chain," said his son, Zack Buttram. It can also work as a feature-length advertisement for his franchisable business, nudging audiences to eat his chicken. "We will note that Tyson Foods has a poultry farmer advisory council as well as a Contract Poultry Farmers Bill of Rights, which includes the right to information detailing how much farmers are paid. Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken! Talking to farmers, he uncovers a reward system they consider rigged, one they complain makes them "indentured servants" to Big Chicken. It was it was almost like a soul purge that happened. But nutritionally not much has changed. "I think the restaurant does a great job of doing that and kind of ripping the Band-Aid off the misleading terms and fractured landscape that we couch our food system in," he said. Super Size Me 2: Holy Chickenwas the main loserafterthe director's self-revelations in December, where he told fans he was accused of rape at college, settled a harassment claim and been unfaithful to "every wife and girlfriend" he has had. I am part of the problem, he wrote then. My son's been blackballed and my wife, they stopped placement of her contract. "These are guys who are indentured servants. They used the former as a movie prop resta. For us it's about putting out a message of change and empowerment. So maybe now it's time forour own "Documentary Edge" Festival tolive up to its name, risk the potential backlash,and seek it out for screening here later in the year. Theres also a "man on the street" interview showing how confused people actually are about these monikers. For example, Spurlock rightfully goes after the words being used to sell food to people. Morris and his lawyers hoped Super Size Me 2 would do the same. I wish I'd done it 10 years ago, he said. 'Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!' is an excellent and necessary expose on the Big Chicken industry - it's a showcase of how unnatural the whole value chain of the chicken industry is, how the chickens are treated unnaturally to make them grow fast, the unfair treatment of the farmers and the clever use of marketing tricks to give a false . Morgan Spurlock's Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken! Jonathan Buttram attends the "Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!" premiere during the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival held at Ryerson Theatre on. 14 years after making Super Size Me, the movie that launched his career and redefined the fast-food industry, Spurlock had unveiled the rare documentary sequel. It would seem Spurlock stands to benefit, too. What does bug me about Super Size Me 2 is that it only skims the surface of the habitual human behavior Spurlock wishes to explore and exploit with his transparent marketing. Smartly readjusting the ratios to focus less on the health effects of fast food and more on the oligopoly-run farming industry and the food trade's sneaky marketing tactics, Spurlock goes . Farmer Jonathan Buttram serves as Spurlock's window into the chicken industry in the documentary. Now I'm at the point of my journey where I'm reaching out to the people and starting to make amends. What hes done is instrumental in helping us.. In the movie, Morris paints a grim picture of the farmers who are millions of dollars in debt due to the tournament system. Buttram said rollback of the Grain . But rather than constantly subject himself to fast-food consumption as he did in the original documentary, Spurlock has instead decided to feed other consumers. because doctors & nutritionist recommend you only eat this type of food only once or twice a month. . The filmmaker and farmer discuss the new documentary and explain what New Yorkers can expect when the Holy Chicken! explores the chicken industry as Spurlock opens his own chicken farm and fast food restaurant. Contribute to this page. The filmmaker and farmer discuss the new . Now that the waters have calmed I hope they would go ahead and move forward with showing the movie to the public., Business Insider contacted YouTube about the release status of Super Size Me 2 and a spokeswoman sent the same statement it made in December following Spurlocks tweet: We feel for all the women impacted by the statements made by Morgan Spurlock. Posts about Jonathan Buttram written by Jack Shalom. Its almost guaranteed youll find a grilled or crispy (you never see the word fried) chicken sandwich on any menu (sometimes both) especially in the food chain industry. Its a full career reboot after he decided to be transparent about his history of sexual misconduct. Assisting Spurlock is farmer Jonathan Buttram, who rents a building to Morganic Farms and, along with his son, helps tend to the chickens. Spurlock ventures into a lab with food scientists and chefs to concoct the highlight of his menu: a Grilled Crispy Chicken sandwich. . But it's also one of those moments as a manic depressive, you don't think about the results of your actions in those moments. The farmers are not being treated well at all and the animals are being treated horribly in those large factory farms.. Various smalltown US newspapers reported either side of Christmas that he and others have filed a lawsuit against the US Department of Agriculture aimed at preventing them from removing what little protection they have against Big Chicken. The film calls the industry Big Chicken and they control the distribution of live product for farms. One of the rare moments it engenders a powerful emotional response is during a scene featuring chicken farmers enmeshed in a lawsuit against the huge conglomerate that is ruining them with unpayable debt. A wall displays such phrases as all natural and local along with a block of text beginning with, Not sure what all these words actually mean? Days later, YouTube announced it would not release " Super Size Me 2 " and Spurlock stepped down as head of his production company, Warrior Poets. The big company provides the chicks. Spurlock's restaurant becomes a bold counterpoint to the industry, offering actual photos of his pale, sad-looking chickens, debunking slick food advertising on signs and offering explanations on the walls of how farmers are mistreated. Two years on, he said he's "in the process of continuing to heal and continuing to get better and make amends to the people that I need to. . I worked for a year and a half to try and find a distributor. "The chickens are being mistreated and the growers are definitely being mistreated. Hes back on the food chain gang here, as the title Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken indicates. And what about Super Size Me 2? The documentary is in many ways collateral damage following Spurlocks confession, collecting dust on a shelf somewhere and no longer a tool for the people who needed it to be seen by audiences the most: the dozens of farmers who have brought lawsuits against Big Chicken. "Getting the most amount of chickens grown out in the least amount of space for the least amount of money so they can make the most amount of money.. I've been blackballed for speaking out, Jonathan Buttram added. . The farmer told Business Insider he has tried numerous times to contact YouTube since the company announced it was pulling the movie. Guests at the pop-up include Jonathan and Zack Buttram, two Alabama chicken farmers, who appear in the film. We follow him as he plans to open his own chicken-themed fast food franchise thats completely transparent about its ingredients and its intentions. No charges were ever filed. We are also proud to share that the overwhelming majority of the 25,000 farm families who partner with chicken companies are satisfied with their relationship. Its not a solution to the problem, but it could be part of one. ", Morgan Spurlock's latest project appears to be a complete reversal -- as 15 years ago he made himself sick eating nothing but McDonalds fast food for an entire month -- chronicled in is Oscar-nominated film "Super Size Me.". Still, my mind wandered to, Dear Mama: The Saga of Afeni & Tupac Shakur, Fatal Attraction Works As Entertainment, Fails as Social Commentary, Prime Videos Citadel Traps Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Richard Madden in Played-Out Spy Game, New York Philharmonic and Steven Spielberg Celebrate the Music of John Williams, A Piece of His Fire: Harry Belafonte (1927-2023). By the films end, Spurlock has an operational Holy Chicken pop-up in Ohio. Spurlock finds that advertising terms such as "all-natural," "cage-free" and "hormone-free" are virtually meaningless. Jonathan and Zach Buttram, a father and son farming duo, serve as Spurlock's window into the chicken industry in the documentary. Buttram is the heart of "Super Size Me 2," a guy locked into a contract with Big Chicken who'll pay the price for helping the filmmakers. Holy Chicken raises its own poultry and pays every employee at least $15 an hour. According to his letter, a woman once accused him of rape in college, he detailed a workplace sexual harassment claim he settled, and admitted hed been unfaithful to past wives and girlfriends. In 2017, the director published a statement on social media titled I am part of the problem., I think that I looked at some of my past actions as being problematic[they] shouldn't have happened. In Super Size Me 2, which was yanked from the 2018 Sundance slate after Spurlock stepped away and now marks his comeback a year later, he is both. SYNOPSIS: Morgan Spurlock explores whether the fast food industry . Alabama farmers like Jonathan Buttram are voting for Doug -- even if they usually vote Republican -- because they know that Doug too has integrity. He made me laugh several times, in fact. The film follows his every step, from raising poultry and creating recipes to designing a brand and scouting locations. The national flock is as healthy as its ever been. That's all I can strive for everyday. After all, when it comes to fast food, chicken is the latest rage. Spurlock has uncovered a lot about the food industry in his work as a filmmaker, but he was most surprised at how farmers like Buttram are being treated. ", "The biggest thing that was most surprising is how badly farmers get treated," said Spurlock. 2. They taste good. That news ladys investigative report and shocked reaction was far more revealing (and more hilarious) than Spurlocks reaction to his similarly posed experiment. Its about numbers for the industry," Jonathan Buttram said. The second Morgan Spurlock cinematic dining outing takes fast food out of the fire and into the deep fryer. He and his family have been punished financially for revealing the industry's secrets to Spurlock. Its not really grilled since grilling fried chicken would overcook it. chicken sandwich chain. He also brought a Holy Chicken! Proudly serving the most eaten animal on plant earth. Related news. The film was also dropped from Sundance in 2018 and Spurlock stepped away from his production . Learning about the cruelty and hardship inflicted not only on the chickens, but the chicken farming community, as well as the deceptive marketing tactics used on consumers was a huge motivator for us in producing this film, Jess Calder, a partner at Snoot Entertainment, which was one of the financiers and producers on Super Size Me 2, said in a statement to Business Insider. And Sandwich, the official mascot of Holy Chicken! This popularity has led to huge profits for the poultry industry, but the farmers who are growing the chickens arent getting much of the rewards. But I think the goal of Holy Chicken is how do you start to at least level the playing field? That's more than 24 million each day and 1 million every hour. Stay up to date with what you want to know. . Always the showman, Spurlock came to TIFF with two of the farmers highlighted in the movie, one of whom was Jonathan Buttram. Filmmaker celebrates new movie with natural, free-range, hormone-free chicken sandwiches and sides! Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Words like organic, crispy, homestyle, free-range and other adjectives designed to trigger a response in the consumer. The culture is still grappling with how and when men who have admitted or been accused of sexual wrongdoing should emerge from exile. So, back on the big screen, what is Morgan Spurlock part of now the problem, or the solution? Buttram provided Spurlock with the chickens for his Holy Chicken . He and many others had hoped their "mistreatment" at the hands of "Big Chicken" (the five powerful corporations who control 99.9 per cent of the birds raised, sold and eaten in America) would gain public exposure from the release of Morgan Spurlock's documentaryHoly Chicken. The movie became a must-see, grossing over $20 million at the box office worldwide (on a $65,000 budget). When you watch Morgan Spurlock tell people he wants to open a fast-food joint, you see skeptical looks and stunned laughs in response. The contract farmer raises them into . . Fried is kind of gone from the fast food vernacular; everything is crispy because it doesn't sound bad for you., Im going to give you what you need and what you want is a delicious grilled crispy chicken sandwich, he said. They know theyre being deluded, yet they dont seem to care. Holy Chicken, both the film and the franchise, aim to debunk the chicken industrys corporate mythology, breaking down what Spurlock says are misleading phrases like natural, artisan and free range., Spurlock said there are places that do actually raise chickens in the free-range environment people imagine: There are places where the chickens do actually get to go outside, but they're so few and far between of what is truly representative of the industry it's crazy.. But its been his off-screen life choices that recently left his career (and Super Size Me 2, for a time) in limbo. "I think the intention is to kind of give you a different perspective of the fast-food world -- the fast-food commodity world -- from a much more corporate point of view," said Spurlock. He runs the blogs Big Media Vandalism and Tales of Odienary Madness. Because when [big chicken companies] come and they say, 'Well I'm gonna terminate your contract if you don't do this, this and this and you're gonna lose your farm.'. But the dream of releasing a documentary that was as impactful as the 2004 original faded away when three months after that successful Super Size Me 2 world premiere, and at the height of the #MeToo Movement, Spurlock sent out a tweet that read I am Part of the Problem, along with a link to a letter via TwitLonger, in which he confessed to numerous acts of sexual misconduct in his past. He discovers that offering his chickens a few inches of walled-off space outside means they are now officially "free-range.". National Chicken Council. Viewers watch as the filmmaker goes to Alabama to learn about raising chicks and follow the process all the way until he opens his own chicken restaurant in central Ohio, the nation's test-market capital. Butler said he learned about it from another farmer hes representing. You as a consumer need to understand you have the power to make a difference through the choices you make. Documentary. I'm going around looking over my shoulder now. "Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken! He calls his agricultural experiment Morganic Farms. We learn that, like everything else in the good ol USA, the chicken industry is a large corporate entity with powerful lobbyists protecting their interests. I know he's been a polarising figure at the best of times and it's hard to separate the man from his work, particularly in this case where is so integral to the movie (there's no chance of subbing in Christopher Plummer here), but it really does feel like the only winners in all of this are Big Chicken. His poorly paid staff members wear T-shirts that read "Part-time all the time." examines this from the corporate side, showing you the decisions that are made, the stories that are spun, the corners that are cut, and the lives that are impacted to get you, the consumer, what you believe to be the best food possible, at the most affordable price," said Spurlock. With his chickens procured, Spurlock ventures out to meet with strategists and inventors to design a new sandwich to sell. Again, my mind wandered to a news item I saw years ago about my hometown of Jersey City, New Jersey. Since Spurlock left the public eye, Warrior Poets has come under fire as seven former employees told Jezebel that the company had a fratty, boys club culture. . Chicken farmer Jonathan Buttram is a plaintiff in our lawsuit against the Trump administration for rolling back protections for family farmers and ranchers from corporate agribusiness abuses. Farmer Jonathan Buttram serves as Spurlock's window into the . It's about return for the consumers. If he and Holy Chicken can liberate even a small portion of poultry farmers from the Chicken Mafias grip, Spurlock says, that will disrupt the status quo. and the effect of Big Agra on family farmers. But for now, the way Morris sees it, Big Chicken dodged a major bullet. Free-range, for example, just means that chickens are presented the option of going outdoors for some part of the day. The Buttrams say their Alabama family farm has been punished for years in retaliation for working with Spurlock and for sharing what they say are the chicken industrys dirty secrets. And so, he offers moviegoers and potential customers the honesty he believes they crave alongside the fried chicken they definitely do crave not by sneaking cameras into the Chicken Mafias inner sanctum, but by laying bare his own restaurants operations. Spurlock has gone from being an avid Big Mac consumer in "Super Size Me" to serving his own chicken sandwiches in "Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!" Fact-checking Eating Animals: What the film gets right and wrong. Jonathan Buttram, a farmer featured in the film, argues the whole chicken business needs to be dismantled, including the way farmers and slaughterhouse workers are treated. Super Size Me 2 Review: Beware That Healthy Chicken, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/05/movies/super-size-me-2-holy-chicken-review.html, Morgan Spurlock and his brood in Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!. They get around all sorts of regulations in the exact same way . Full statement from the National Chicken Council: The National Chicken Council is aware of the film Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken! from filmmaker and activist Morgan Spurlock. The documentary dives into the challenges farmers like Buttram are facing in dealing with big corporations. In "Super Me 2: Holy Chicken", Morgan Spurlock explores the fast-food industry's claims that fast food is both healthy and organic by opening his own restaurant. The film has classic Spurlock touches, including zippy graphics and amusing music, blending a Michael Moore-ish camera-in-your-face style with his own sense of humour and pathos. The idea is to create a real chicken fast food restaurant. I think the best part, he said, is that people can have their chicken and eat it, too. You could picture him winking as he said it. As Super Size Me 2 highlights, in one instance Tyson used a tournament system in which the company gave farmers a certain amount of chickens per year, and then paid by the performance of those chickens (i.e., size of the bird, and the amount produced). Those labels slapped onto Perdue or Tyson chicken in the frozen aisle, Spurlock observes, dont actually tell you much about what happens behind the scenes. If it were me, I would call you up and say, Hey, I screwed up. I would tell you whats going to happen., I applaud anyone who tells the truth, especially in the world today, Butler said of Spurlocks confession. . Driver charged in crash that injured CTV reporter in Ont. Farmers and advocates visit USDA. On Demand opening on September 13th. After one month of greasy Mc-oversizing, he proved the medical hazards of such an . You know, I called her sex pants. I want it to come out, and not for me but for every chicken farmer in America. Read his answers to our Movie Love Questionnairehere. Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG), HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning), Machine Tools, Metalworking and Metallurgy, Aboriginal, First Nations & Native American. In order to achieve his goal of creating a chicken joint that explains to people exactly what food theyre getting and the side of marketing manipulation that comes with it, Spurlock must first obtain some chickens and a farm where he can raise them. Finally, Spurlock found Jonathan Buttram last summer, an Alabama chicken farmer who for the last decade has been trying to get the public to understand what Big Chicken has done to farmers . Currently, the lawsuit Morris and 19 other farmers filed in Kentucky against Tyson has been in the discovery phase since 2016, which is uncharacteristically long, according to Morris attorneys. As Anne Burrell says on Food Network, brown food tastes good. And healthy food tastes like crap, so a place only needs to give the illusion of something thats good for you. -- a sober look at an industry that processes 9 billion animals a year in America. Samuel Goldwyn. Stephanie Ruhle is joined by a farmer who took action and sued the Trump administration, Jonathan Buttram, and "Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!" filmmaker, Morgan Spurlock to discuss. He said a franchise company has offered to open his restaurants across the country, but no deal has been made yet. Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken! And I say, 'Well, the marketing sure has,"' he said. . Bettering himself and making amends doesnt have to happen in the public eye, he says, so he resigned from his production company and stepped out of the spotlight. He warns consumers may have to pay a little bit more to support independent farmers and chains that pay a living wage. You have to look no further than the impact of the first Super Size Me movie to confirm Butlers theory. There's also frustration from some who feel that the people who risked everything to go on camera for Spurlock have now been abandoned. Not only do "Big Chicken" (Tyson, Pilgrim's Pride, Sanderson Farms, Perdue Foods and Koch Foods) make other conglomerateslook extremely benevolent by comparison, but they also allegedly punish farmers who complain about their ruthless practices. Now, thanks to Spurlock's admissions and behaviour, hardly anyone else is likely to hear it and that's frustrating and disappointing. Spurlock focuses on two parts of the fast-food world: chicken farmers stuck in a peculiar financial system and the attempt by fast-food chains to deceive customers into thinking they're eating healthier. He believes people like fried chicken and want to be in on the joke. Its unclear if the numerous upcoming projects Spurlock and Warrior Poets was involved in ranging from a docuseries with LeBron James to a biopic on legendary Hollywood agent Sue Mengers will come to fruition. "Two weeks ago, I had two farmers calling me threatening to commit suicide. After selling the distribution rights, Morgan Spurlock admitted to a history of sexual misconduct and harassment, resulting in a delayed and discreet release two years later. The Ohio pop-up is just the start of what Spurlock envisions as a minor revolution beyond the film. I had 10 farmers come up to my house and we had a link to the movie and I showed it to them and everyone just loved it.