Morgan Spurlock’s Death

Submission 7,253

Overview

Morgan Spurlock’s Death refers to the passing of American documentary filmmaker, writer and producer Morgan Spurlock, aged 53 at the time of his death, in late May 2024 due to complications of cancer. The filmmaker was best known for capturing his own psychological and physical symptoms from eating McDonald’s every day for a month in the Oscar-nominated 2004 documentary Super Size Me. His death sparked a debate about the filmmaker's legacy and ironic memes about McDonald's reaction to the news.

Background

On May 24th, 2024, Variety^[1] reported that Morgan Spurlock, director of the Oscar-nominated 2004 feature Super Size Me, died in upstate New York due to complications of cancer. He was 53 at the time. The news was quickly spread online, such as the X^[2] page @Dexerto that posted about the filmmakers' death that same day (shown below), which amassed more than 44,000 likes and 4,200 reposts in a few hours.

Online Reactions

Coincidentally a week before Spurlock's death, his Super Size Me documentary became a viral topic on X after user @LAPUTAPANCHIKO^[3] tweeted a critique about the film, saying, "This movie was so stupid I rewatched it and the premise of it is stupid." The post (shown below, left) amassed more than 20 million views and 23,000 likes since posted on May 18th, 2024.

The coincidence became the subject of jokes on X amid word of his death spreading. For example, X user @puffin_captain's^[4] tweet on May 24th, using the Gets Criticized Once, Fucking Dies meme to comment on Spurlock's death (shown below, right), garnered roughly 220 likes and 40 reposts in a few hours.

TikTokers also mentioned the filmmaker's death as it continued to garner virality, like TikToker @yourfinestpardon,^[5] who posted a video about the Super Size Me documentary on May 24th (seen below, left), amassing more than 11,000 plays and 540 likes in a few hours.

On May 25th, 2024, TikToker^[6] @venusingatorade92 posted a video (seen below, right) commenting on the coincidence of Spurlock dying in the same week his movie resurfaced as a viral topic on the internet. The post received roughly 400 plays and 40 likes in a few hours.