They call him “The Sperminator.” No, really. He calls himself “The Sperminator” too. But his real name is Ari Nagel. He’s a math professor at City University of New York and he’s fathered at least 26 children from sperm that he’s donated in some pretty strange ways. (A Target bathroom is involved.)
The story first broke in 2016, when The New York Post ran a profile called (hilariously) “Great Balls of Sire.” Back then, he had 22 kids, but only one of them was with someone he’d been in a committed relationship with. The rest were the product of sperm he gave away freely to women who asked for it.
"I just love seeing how happy the moms and kids are. It’s the gift that keeps on giving" https://t.co/9PsSgZlUcG pic.twitter.com/yLoiPJ2Yud
— New York Post (@nypost) June 13, 2016
Most of Nagel’s “clients” (he never charges for his “services”) are single women, or lesbians who want to have a baby but don’t have a male partner to produce the sperm. Most of the time, the women meet Nagel in a public place, like Target or Starbucks. Nagel (ahem) produces the semen in the men’s room and passes it off to the woman in a menstrual cup. The woman then goes into the ladies room where she “inserts it into her cervix.” Unsanitary as this sounds (and is!) this apparently works.
So, that’s how he does it half the time. But sometimes, well, he does it “the old-fashioned way.” The Post reports that the women pick Nagel because his “good looks, personality and high sperm count are a draw.”
Nagel is involved in the lives of most of his children. He babysits, attends birthday parties, and is even sometimes there for the deliveries. A picture of him that ran in the Post shows him wearing a “Best Dad Ever” t-shirt. He considers himself a father — but the only thing he’s really doing to help raise these kids is pay the child support he owes five of the mothers who sued him successfully. Nagel says that half his paycheck goes towards paying for his kids. “They all promise in advance they won’t sue,” Nagel told the Post.
The Post revisited Nagel and his growing brood last year and found that not much had changed. Since the profile ran in the Post, Nagel is even more in demand as an off-the-books sperm donor. “Between the media, the women emailing with requests and dealing with my family, it’s been a lot,” Nagel said. He says he’s getting requests from all over the world, many of which he has honored. While he still provides the sperm for free, the women pay for his airfare.
While Nagel’s story may seem shocking to some, there was one person who found it particularly upsetting: Nagel’s wife. It seems that Nagel neglected to mention his wife to the reporters who originally published the story, but Roxanne — Nagel’s wife of 10 years — apparently reads the Post. An anonymous friend reported that Roxanne was “devastated” to learn of her husband’s extracurricular activities.
As for Nagel, he claims that he and Roxanne have been essentially separated for some time and that they “sleep in separate bedrooms.” He also says that she did know about what he was doing, but didn’t support it. “She always wanted me to be a regular, traditional spouse.” (Who can blame her?) Nagel says that Roxanne has been “yelling at me a lot,” since the story broke. Looks like Nagel’s definition of “husband” is as skewed as his definition of “father.”
Since the Post caught up with him in 2017, Nagel has been out of the public eye. He did pop up on Twitter last week to post a photo of himself at the Nets vs. Rockets basketball game. In the photo, somewhat unsurprisingly, Nagel is flanked by two cheerleaders. Otherwise, he seems to have fallen largely off the radar.
Check out my photo from the @BrooklynNets game. #WeGoHard https://t.co/NLPvNwrrMt
— Ari Nagel (@ProfessorAri) February 7, 2018
That may be because he’s off the market. In 2017 Nagel told the Post, “It’s only for another year or two. There’s higher risks for birth defects as you get older, and I wouldn’t feel comfortable. I want the children to be healthy.” Well, that’s nice of him I guess.
Hopefully Nagel is home and focusing on his relationship with his wife, or maybe helping to raise some of his kids. But, given his Twitter activity, I’d say probably not.
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