Netflix’s Liver King Doc Skips the Meat of the Story

Editor’s note: Spoilers ahead.

Who could have imagined that I’d be nodding along with the Liver King. Yet on a flight home from a vegan conference, I found myself agreeing with the infamous social media personality as I watched Untold: The Liver King, on Netflix. The documentary tracks the story of the Liver King, whose real name is Brian Johnson, from social media demigod to whatever he is now. But the film doesn’t leave viewers any more informed of what that level of meat consumption actually does, both to the eater and the planet.

Known for promoting perhaps the most extreme version of the Carnivore Diet, with a particular focus on eating raw animal livers and testicles, the Liver King gained massive online fame in the early 2020’s. He’s also made millions — selling supplements, bars and protein powders produced from the “nose to tail” of animals. He told his followers that consuming these things, and only these things, along with following his “Ancestral Tenets,” were the keys to ultimate health and happiness.

But by 2022, he fell out of public favor after it was leaked that — shocker — he was taking a ton of steroids to maintain his striking physique. To be clear, I cringed through most of this film. Clips of the Liver King, along with his wife and kids biting into a variety of animal body parts struck me as disgusting. A scene when a bull was shot and gutted by the family was also disturbing — though the transparency around the horrific process was oddly refreshing.

But eventually, as the timeline unravels and Johnson is exposed, he comes to admit he was wrong, not only for deceiving his millions of followers about his “all-natural” physique, but about the Carnivore Diet entirely.

“I want the world to know that I was wrong… I got all of it wrong … I don’t know shit.” He tells the viewers that he actually suffers from low self esteem. He says he never felt good enough during his childhood. And I fell for it for a few minutes, until Johnson is revealed to us, the viewers, to be not the sad, fatherless boy in a beast’s body but a con man, a snake oil salesman, a grifter just like so many other wellness influencers. And this film, he seems to have hoped, would be his latest grift.

Johnson admits that he was not living healthfully then. “I was so convinced: all of the carnivore stuff, that’s what you need to kick ass in life. I’m convinced now that I was starving myself,” he says as he eats strawberries freshly picked from a garden that he suggests is at least partly fertilized with his own waste. Before he eats the strawberry, mind you, he communes with it just as he did the bull in an earlier scene, saying thanks.

“Vegetables and testicles, I can have all of it!” he announces. The film is gross. But it got me. There I was empathizing, nodding and feeling bad for this self-conscious little big guy. That is, until the final ten minutes of the movie, when Johnson reveals plans to open 302 retreats. Or will they be grocery stores? It’s not clear, just that it’s some plan to keep selling his way of life. As the film ends, Johnson, with his wife on his lap, says: “our reign is just fucking starting.”

A quick online search shows Johnson is still selling his organ based products. “‘10 OUT OF 10 KINGS’ PREFER THE LIVER KING BAR… A PRIMAL SNACK THAT’S DELICIOUS AS FUCK,” according to his website. The bars, which also contain almond butter, were sold out at time of writing. His organ supplements, made of animal testicles, hearts, livers and bone marrow cost $60 a bottle.

This film is not a revelation. It’s a sad sponsored post.

Because let us not forget, the Liver King is a multi-millionaire who has done notable damage to many of the young men who follow him. Not once in the film is any science or nutritional research cited. It’s not even mentioned. There is not a statistic, graph or expert to be seen.

Climate change, factory farming, heart disease — none of these play a part in the film, other than a reference to junk food here and there. But they should. Because eating a diet high in meat is linked to increased risk of developing heart disease, diabetes and some cancers. And farming animals is a major contributor to climate change, animal suffering, biodiversity loss and water pollution among others. But that’s not what this movie is about. Ultimately, it’s about The Liver King’s bid for redemption.

Rather than educate viewers, the film mostly exploits this family (though a knowing look from the younger son raises questions about just who is and is not in on this performance) and suggests the only thing Johnson did wrong was lie about steroids. His promotion of heavy meat consumption as natural, healthy and manly isn’t questioned at all. It’s fine as long as you ditch the steroids and throw in some strawberries and almond butter. Ultimately, Untold: The Liver King is a good enough film to get you through a flight, just don’t fall for the bull testicles.