Scott D. Pierce: Manti Te'o was victimized by a catfish, but a new film shows how his life was wrecked.
Manti Te'o was an all-American linebacker at Notre Dame when he was catfished.If, like me, you thought you knew the story of football star Manti Te’o getting catfished and you didn’t feel sorry for him — and maybe felt“I think a lot of people feel the same way,” said Emmy-winning filmmaker Tony Vainuku, a Utahn whose new documentary about Te’o and the person who catfished him — “Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn’t Exist” – starts streaming Wednesday on Netflix.
Much of the coverage seemed to treat this as somewhat of a joke, despite the damage it wreaked on Te’o’s life. The documentary includes appalling clips of sportscasters and alleged journalists speculating that all of this was a lie Teo concocted to cover up him being gay. Which he is not. It’s only a decade ago, but the homophobia is hideous — people lose their jobs for that kind of behavior today.
“I went into the situation with no judgment on it and just being completely open to what she was ready to share,” Vainuku said. “I definitely don’t condone what Naya did, but this film definitely provides context and the complexity of the situation at the time.”The phenomenon of catfishing — pretending to be someone you’re not on the internet to attract another person — was not unheard of in 2012. The “Catfish” movie premiered at Sundance in 2010, and the “Catfish” TV series premiered on Nov.
That speaks well of Te’o. I am less forgiving of Deadline’s reporting. Giving the outlet the benefit of the doubt, it was — at best — naive not to see how this was going to blow back on Te’o. They reported there was a strong chance Te’o was in on the hoax — which was not true — and the justifications they offer in the documentary don’t entirely ring true.According to Vainuku, Te’o is extremely pleased with the way the documentary turned out.
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