20 Documentaries That Ruined People's Lives

the downside of giving an interview is that the interviewer will take what I've said to make me look as bad as possible welcome to watch Mojo and today we're looking at documentary films or docu series that resulted in strong negative effects on the lives of their filmmakers subjects or participants the thought crossed my mind what if she's one of these people who just never tells the truth and she just made everything up Jesus Camp kids on fire School of ministry Devil's Lake North Dakota was the ironic subject of the 2006 documentary Jesus Camp it detailed the goings on at the kids on fire School of ministry a Pentecostal summer camp that gave children an inappropriate and extreme relationship with religion I'm here to be trained here to I'm here for an education I'm here for an education I'm willing God I'm willing God I'll do what you want me to do I'll do what want to do while Jesus Camp received favorable reviews many took issues with with the themes of child indoctrination and found it difficult to watch as a result angry fans bombarded the ministry with letters and physical defacement Reverend Becky fiser was forced to disband the camp and move out as the land's owners had them evicted owing to the vandalism tales of the Grim sleeper Lonnie David Franklin Jr do we feel bad when the ruined life is that of a serial killer we'll pose that philosophical quander with tales of the Grim sleeper this documentary details the life and Crimes of the killer of the same name did you ever know him no but I heard yeah that uh he used to work here he used to work here that's what I heard yeah said he used to work here and uh I don't know where he went after that between 1984 and 2007 the Grim sleeper killed at least 10 people and committed other acts of sexual violence the killer was Lonnie David Franklin Jr and he was arrested in 2010 the documentary was released four years later with 15 women opening up about their horrific experiences I still can't process this person who who killed these women being the person who would go above and beyond to help you it not only introduced a wider audience to the story but it completely tarnished the name and reputation of Franklin who had yet to be convicted that occurred in 2016 and Franklin was sentenced to death tickled David deato New Zealand TV reporter David farer stumbled across the rather bizarre practice of competitive endurance tickling this is pretty much exactly what it sounds like videos of people being restrained and then tickled supposedly in the guise of endurance sport an American company called J Brien media was running a monthly event young athletes from anywhere on the planet could apply if selected they got free flights to La four nights in a really nice hotel and $1,500 cash but really they were just fetish videos involving attractive athletic men farrier's Adventure led him to one Terry desisto the shadowy recruiter and distributor of the videos farrier discovers that Terry desisto is won David dto a former High School assistant and principal you're in this country on a tourist visa by doing anything related to so-called journalism you're in violation of the federal law here be back for a long time I'm on a journalism Visa so I'm I'm okay to be here damato's identity was supposedly exposed and he sued the filmmakers for defamation however he died in March 2017 just 10 months after the film was released con 2012 Joseph Cony nothing screams the early 2010s quite like cone 2012 documentary from Jason Russell was everywhere in the spring of 2012 thanks to a high-profile marketing campaign and because of the course of events in my life I see a way to get there it has become my job who are you to end a war I'm here to tell you who are you not to the goal of the documentary was to shed light on one Joseph Cony the leader of a Ugandan terrorist group called The Lord's resistance Army Cony 2012 and its popular campaign helped Inspire the African Union to send thousands of troops into con's known areas in an effort to find him while the terrorist has yet to be located the documentary has raised pressure on the hunt and made Joseph Cony a household name with hundreds of thousands of people with us we went back to Washington DC and we met with congressmen and Senators one by one on both sides Republicans Democrats and they all agreed with us Joseph con's crimes had to be stopped luckily it is now believed that the Lord's resistance Army has shrunk in number and is no longer a serious threat The Woman Who Wasn't There Alicia head the woman is Alicia head and there was the World Trade Center on 9/11 a woman named Tanya head claimed to have survived the September 11 attacks and even led a support group called The World Trade Center survivors Network we started as an online peer support group where you could go into a Yahoo group and connect to other survivors 24 hours a day so one day you were having a bad day and you would post it online and within 30 minutes you get 40 replies of people saying I know what you feel her story became incredibly popular earning interviews in the media and photos with the likes of Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Governor George and slowly but surely the truth unraveled as the woman who wasn't there so delicately proves Tanya head was a fraud her real name is Alicia head and she was doing her Masters in Spain when 911 occurred this was totally shocking totally shocking cuz of all the things I would ever think about somebody that's just not something I would think about you're looking at everyone with suspicion if Tanya can lie anybody can lie the documentary helped expose head's deception and she was even fired from her position at a Spanish insurance company surviving R Kelly R Kelly few documentaries have the cultural power of surviving R Kelly Kelly was an enormously popular R&B artist but his reputation has been permanently tarnished thanks to the magical work of this documentary a part of me always felt like maybe I did something for him to treat me that way I want my story to be heard so people could take this situation seriously but when I found out it wasn't just me I just don't want it to get any worse originally released in 2019 it highlighted the sexual abuse allegations that had been made against the titular singer immediately following the series R Kelly's music was banned from many radio stations and he was dropped by RCA records but even more substantial was the work done by the Cook County State's Attorney's Office less than 2 months after the documentary's first season aired they charged Kelly with 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse he tries to slide in in that space where girls don't know better yet where they can't necessarily spot a predator people will say well why didn't anyone notice the answer is that we all noticed no one cared because we were black girls this kickstarted a legal process that ended with Kelly being sent away for 31 years living with Michael Jackson Michael Jackson in 2005 the legendary musician was acquitted of 14 nasty charges that we won't get into here this trial and its culmination of rever ated through pop culture for years and debate about Jackson's innocence continues to this day this is Michael Jackson as you've never seen him before from the inside his music his money this mess can be traced back to Martin bashir's 2003 documentary living with Michael Jackson Basher brings up a number of troubling topics including Jackson's involvement with children at Neverland Ranch Basher has been passionately criticized for his film making and behavior but his documentary nevertheless held incredible power that none of your children have always have a judgment about anything you do so it doesn't bother me everything can be strange to someone this interview is strange to some people out there it kickstarted the legal investigation that led to Jackson's charges and the eventual criminal trial that continues to tarnish his legacy Blues by the beach Jack Baxter shortly before 1:00 a.m. on April 30th 2003 a Tel Aviv bar called Mike's place was bombed by terrorists killing three and wounding 50 one of them was filmmaker Jack Baxter Baxter planned on making a documentary about the bar with the hopes of capturing Tel aviv's happier and more lively side a contrast to the media's violent depiction of the Israeli city Jack gave me $1,000 he's like film for me let's do something about the bar let's show another side of Israel and um the rest is kind of in it's yeah but then tragedy struck the bar was bombed in the middle of filming seriously injuring bter luckily the producer was released from hospital following surgery and reworked his film to include both the bombing and its consequences sometimes the filmmaker tragically becomes the subject nanuk of the north the Inuit indigenous peoples this is undoubtedly an important piece of History being the first documentary to attain widespread success however this is not a documentary in the way we think of the genre as it also incorporates fictional elements into its Story the film follows an inuk man named nanuk and the struggles he endures with his [Music] family however the movie is filled with Fabrications not the least of which was nuk's name his real name was alak kelok but that wasn't as marketable the documentary has long been criticized for making the inette look less civilized than they actually were and it was blamed for reinforcing harmful stereotypes even worse this film helped perpetuate the stereotypes in pop culture ensuring that they persisted for decades to come Blackfish SeaWorld this film from Gabriella Cowper weight targets SeaWorld in the general practice of Performing orcas through the lens of tikum tikum was a whale at SeaWorld Orlando who killed three trainers throughout his career supposedly out of the psychological trauma stemming from captivity what I found really odd at first was the way they were acting around this whale and what they had told us seemed to me to be two different things Blackfish dealt incredible damage to the SeaWorld brand resulting in a loss of attendance and a significant drop in stock price California introduced the Orca welfare and safety act in response to the the film and the business was also hit with federal charges resulting in a $5 million settlement if I leave who's going to take care of tium and that's why I stayed because I feel sorry for telekom I mean if you want to get down to the nuts and bolts of I stayed because I I feel sorry for Telecom and um I I couldn't bring myself to to stop coming and trying to take care of him the controversy was enough that SeaWorld announced it would be ending its live Orca show Tiger King Carol Baskin eccentric former zookeeper Joe exotic claims that the hit Netflix docu series tiger king ruined his life good afternoon ladies and gentlemen and welcome to another fun episode of a day of my life here on Jo exoct tv.com that's saying a lot considering he was already in prison when the show premiered it may be less debatable to argue that the documentary instead damaged the reputation of his arch nemesis Carol Baskin hi I'm Carol Baskin and I'm the founder and CEO of Big Cat Rescue Tiger King seemingly painted the animal rights activist as Exotics even matching ego if not animal mistreatment the doc series was also criticized for overexposing the theory that Baskin had a hand in her ex-husband Don Lewis's disappearance there's a lot of stories about Carol having some finger in it but nobody can prove it this particularly inspired devastating harassment online though her raised profile has also promoted her activism Baskin feels betrayed by Netflix's depiction and that too many people have made up their minds on the mystery of Lewis's fate the vast majority of the calls and social posts and emails that I was getting were so hateful I couldn't leave my phone on because I couldn't sleep it was just constantly raining the case of John Benet Ramsey Burke Ramsey the unsolved murder of child beauty queen John Benet Ramsey has been followed by Scandal ever since 1996 soon pictures of this little girl became public igniting a media frenzy and the eyes of the world focused on this shocking case as if the loss and media circus weren't traumatizing enough the Ramsey family has long dealt with theories that they were the culprits all three members were eventually cleared by DN evidence in 2008 nonetheless the 2016 miniseries the case of John Benet Ramsey still argued that the victim's older brother Burke was responsible he seems to have gone into sort of playful mode and the tone of it is completely off his sister disappears in the middle of the night she ends up dead in the basement and he doesn't worry about himself or worry that they may come back for him Burke promptly filed a defamation suit against CBS and some of the show's participants following an outof Court settlement the older Ramsay returned to a private life still with many maintaining that John Benet was killed by Burke he has undoubtedly found his reputation tarnished by the claims of this docu series I think early on we discussed the lack of the family actually getting involved with the investigation to begin with and that is so atypical of what I see in a case where someone close to you has passed away you'll do whatever you can to get the case resolved the king of Kong A Fistful of quarters Billy Mitchell Seth Gordon's documentary on the feud for Donkey Kong Conquest Quest won high scores with audiences of course the public attention it revived for record holder Billy Mitchell backfired Competitive Gaming when you want to attach your name to a world record when you want your name written into history you have to pay the price the king of Kong was among the sources investigated by Specialists to conclude that Mitchell's scoring track record was partially attained with emulation software this provided an undue Advantage allowing anyone to play outside of arcade machines he was a guy that pushed for live scores all the time and now here I am at funpot busting my ass to get a live score and he just submits tape scores now Mitchell's records were removed from databases and The Gaming Community ostracized him in a defamation suit against his accusers he even claimed that his doctor refused to treat his stress related health issues although some of his records have since been reinstated the king of Kong helped bring down the gamer royalty Mitchell built an entrepreneurial brand on I'm to some non-name guy from Washington Billy is trying to live up to this image of being the greatest ever and so he's afraid to that if he loses that's gonna tarnish him making a murderer Ken Katz as district attorney for camet County Wisconsin Ken Katz landed the famous murder convictions of Steven Avery and Brendan dassi in 2007 we're obviously happy with the results we believe that adjust result uh was reached in this trial controversy that these may have been wrongful convictions eventually went Global with the release of the Netflix docu series making a murderer don't let Netflix tell you what to think jce cz's Glory was shortlived anyway as a harassment Scandal had cost him his office in 2010 but after the documentary's examination of possible judicial impropriety Katz faced death threats in a barrage of negative Yelp reviews he has since lost his law license Katz continues to Grant Public interviews and has been working on a book to dispute the show's supposedly flimsy evidence this wasn't a documentary at all this was a defense piece it was generated by and for Steven Avery by his defense team the court of public opinion has nonetheless not been kind to him going clear Scientology and the prison of belief former Church of Scientology members Alex gibney's documentary on the mysterious Church of Scientology was praised by General audiences but received a very different reaction from scientologists you know why did they go into it in the first place I was interested in intelligent and skeptical people who are drawn into a belief system and wind up acting on those beliefs in ways they never thought they would Gibney has expressed remorse that many people who worked on going clear subsequently suffered retaliation from church officials they take enemies very seriously this comes right out of hub's own policies from the 60s he's saying we never defend we always attack and they have followed it ever since they call it fair game and anybody who criticizes Scientology is fair game former members whose interviews exposed the church's history and controversial practices got it the worst filmmaker Paul haggus journalist Tony Ortega and others reported being surveilled a private investigator also confessed to being hired to hack into several email accounts these all seem to be consistent with the disturbing stories exposed throughout the documentary again and again while reporting the story we met many former members who describe Scientology as a dangerous and deeply paranoid Organization for all the importance of going clear and religious debate its effects extended far beyond the current Scientology congregation the show about the show kavati arguably the most daring project for meta filmmaker cavati was the show about the show in which each episode documented the making of the previous episode what's the show this show what show this show I don't understand when when you say this show this show like the show about the show released online and on Brooklyn cable access the niche program turned out to be more dramatic than anyone expected the intrusive and candid production imploded the's already Rocky marriage plus a subsequent romance because she keeps doing this she keeps saying I want to break up and I want you to move out and then she changes her mind I want to try and make it work and then she says it again I want to break up and I want you to move out and then she changes her mind he claims that his whole personal life has been destroyed by its own documentation the show about the show wound up being a reality show that truly lives up to the genre's name zahi does not regret the project however and I'm thinking why the did he break the tape I could have used that in the show in fact he's trying to keep it going totally independently although he'll be the first to admit that it up ended his whole world overnight Troy Duffy despite the very limited release of The Boondock Saints writer director Troy Duffy became a cult sensation I do believe the menus finally got the point hi fans got to go behind the scenes with his film making and music breakout in the documentary overnight this showcase Duffy as an undeniable talent but whose contentious Behavior eventually led to his downfall you tell him I'm the CA in 6 months then we'll start moving on okay my suggestion to you is that it's okay for you to say you're up said it's not okay for you to say you're considering leaving all right then say I'm upset that's fine his antagonism towards his veteran producers ultimately led to mirax dropping his movie and Harvey Weinstein having him blacklisted sure overnight is a record of Duffy destroying his own life but he claims the documentary showed his inexcusable Behavior out of context it certainly caused him the potential salvation of public sympathy you have changed big time and uh I wouldn't say in the positive direction Duffy has since made only one other movie The Boondock Saints 2 the staircase Michael Peterson and his family the French docu series sup song better known as the staircase was groundbreaking in its intimate coverage of an Infamous trial that of American novelist Michael Peterson for the murder of his wife Kathleen and then I can remember and it must have been very early while I was still in the kitchen that a cop was on me instantly everywhere I went a policeman was there after the show was released its massive success destroyed any hope of privacy For The Grieving family Peterson's conviction was later overturned and he eventually accepted an Alfred plea for a lesser charge so I've never doubted my dad's innocence but it's just it's it's just kind of I don't know a hard place to be this allowed him to maintain his innocence over the crime Netflix then released an update of the staircase in 2018 inviting social media hostility on the Petersons this was further addressed in the 2022 documentary subject it's still hitting me like that this is actually happening it's so gross whatever the truth about Kathleen Peterson's death the staircase succeeded and turning a family tragedy into a public inquiry the square akmed Hassan following the deposition of corrupt president hosy muar in 2011 Egypt endured years of political and civil [Music] unrest Jan new James the square explored this gruesome period through the perspective of its own cinematographer akedan the filmmaker and democracy activist knew the risks in becoming a public figure of resistance while the Egyptian crisis ended in 2014 Hassan wasn't around for this instead he had been exiled from Egypt fearing retaliation from the authoritarian regime he also had limited contact with his family out of concern for their safety the square may have won Hanan and Emmy for his cinematography but the project seemingly left him worse off as he was driven from his homeland before we continue be sure to subscribe to our Channel and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos you have the option to be notified for occasional videos or all of them if you're on your phone make sure you go into your settings and switch on notifications the Jinx the life and deaths of Robert Durst Robert Durst in 1982 real estate Heir Robert Durst was investigated for the murder of his wife Kathleen McCormack would you for the record tell the ladies and gentlemen of the jury your name uh Robert Durst he was eventually brought to trial in 2003 for another murder amidst rumors of a third Durst refused to do interviews after his acquittal but was so impressed by all good things a movie based on his bizarre story that he agreed to sit down with filmmaker Andrew jki I mean this whole time since I've gotten that a prison uh I've said nothing to nobody about anything so people out there have gotten very used to the fact they can say anything you want because I'm never going to give it an interview so it's never going to be disputed docu series The Jinx ended with Durst forgetting that he was still miked up seemingly admitting to all three murders the hell kill oh of course this may have just been ingest but Durst was still charged with one of the killings he was finally convicted in 2021 while true crime documentaries may be accused of consequential biases it's hard to argue with durst's self-incrimination do you feel bad for these individuals let us know in the comments below this is going to be a thing this is going to be a thing that people bother me about and that's going to make my life harder check out these other clips from watch Mojo and be be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to be notified about our latest videos

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Keywords: Film, History, Movies, best documentaries, best movies, carol baskin, documentaries, documentaries that ruined peoples lives, documentaries that ruined reputations, hbo, jonbenet ramsay, list, making a murderer, mojo, netflix, netflix documentaries, robert durst, scientology, scientology documentary, the jinx, the show about the show, the staircase, tiger king, top 10, watch mojo, watchMojo, worst documentaries

Id: UHK9aIxpZSY

Length: 22min 44sec (1364 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 21 2023