It’s been a decade since former All-American soccer standout Manti Te’o has spoken publicly in regards to the catfishing scandal that rocked the sports activities world and spoiled his fairytale profession at Notre Dame. Now, he is able to inform his facet of the story, and why there isn't a dangerous blood between him and the individual behind all of it.
Te’o was a star linebacker at Notre Dame and a Heisman trophy nominee — whose golden boy fame included a love for his religion and household — when it was revealed he had been the goal of an elaborate catfishing hoax spearheaded by Ronaiah “Naya” Tuiasosopo.
Te’o and Tuiasosopo each rehash the notorious scandal in “Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn’t Exist” — a two-part Netlfix documentary, launched Tuesday, directed by Ryan Duffy and Tony Vainuku that delves into Te’o’s relationship with Tuiasosopo, who glided by “Lennay Kekua” on-line.
Tuiasosopo used photographs of highschool classmate Diane O’ Meara with out her information to create the pretend on-line persona of Kekua. Tuiasosopo, then referred to as Ronaiah, has since change into a transgender girl and goes by the title Naya.
Te’o and Tuiasosopo agreed to be interviewed individually for the documentary as a result of they have been “unhappy” with how their story was portrayed within the media a decade in the past, the doc’s govt producers, brothers Chapman Means and Maclain Means, mentioned in an interview with The Submit.
“After we began filming, they hadn’t been in touch for the reason that scandal broke. They hadn’t talked, they hadn’t seen one another,” Chapman mentioned. “And so it was a very attention-grabbing means of constructing this. They haven’t been in touch. They haven’t been in communication.
“However I believe form of what made these interviews so highly effective is that they have been drawing on recollections from 10 years in the past. Recollections which have stayed with them. Very highly effective recollections. Very highly effective feelings. I believe each of them are nonetheless working by way of form of what this entire scandal was and the way it affected them individually.”
Neither Te’o nor Tuiasosopo have been interviewed or filmed collectively for the making of “Untold.” Manufacturing occurred throughout the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and security protocols resulted in distant interviews and smaller manufacturing crews.
Te’o was in Chicago on the time of the interviews, throughout his stint with the Bears, who signed him to their follow squad in October 2020. Tuiasosopo’s interviews have been performed in Seattle, the place she is predicated.
In a trailer for the documentary, Te’o, now 31, says his “entire world modified” when the catfishing hoax unfolded.
In 2012, Te’o introduced that his girlfriend, “Lennay Kekua,” had died after battling leukemia throughout his senior soccer season — solely to study she by no means existed. Te’o additionally mentioned he discovered that his 72-year-old grandmother, Annette Santiago, had died simply six hours earlier than Kekua’s dying in September of that yr.
“The very last thing she mentioned to me was, ‘I like you,’ and that’s it,” Te’o advised ESPN in October 2012 about his girlfriend.
On the time, the linebacker mentioned the losses had impressed him to play higher as he helped the Combating Irish attain its first BCS Nationwide Championship throughout his senior yr.
In a January 2013 assertion, the college mentioned Te’o had been the sufferer of what gave the impression to be a hoax by somebody utilizing a fictitious title. Notre Dame addressed the matter after Deadspin reported it may discover no report of Lennay Kekua present — and that Ronaiah Tuiasosopo was the suspected mastermind behind the pretend girlfriend.
Te’o mentioned he met Tuiasosopo in 2009 after a soccer sport in Stanford. The 2 would communicate by way of cellphone calls and textual content messages. He later advised ESPN that he had by no means met Kekua in individual, and that her image was at all times blocked every time they spoke over video chat. However his father, Brian Te’o, claimed the 2 had frolicked collectively in Hawaii.
The chief producers mentioned they have been capable of monitor down Tuiasosopo, who they consult with as “Naya,” by way of Instagram.
“Someday we discovered Naya. Then we reached out and advised her a bit bit about our present ‘Untold,'” Chapman mentioned. “We bought Naya on the cellphone and he or she was extremely uncooked and open and susceptible about this entire journey. She’s been going over [it] the final couple of years [during the making of ‘Untold,’] and speaking to her, we realized, like, man, there’s in all probability a very unimaginable story right here that goes past the headlines.”
Chapman and Maclain’s two-part documentary offers a deeper look into Tuiasosopo’s motive for her function within the hoax.
“However for us, I believe that there’s much more added context for Naya’s actions and much more which means behind them,” Maclain mentioned. “And I believe that the opposite distinctive factor is, in speaking to each Naya and Manti, there actually didn’t appear to be like, and I genuinely imagine this, I do know this — there’s no like dangerous blood between these individuals. However between them two, they every acknowledge the journey that one another needed to go on. And I believe that they simply settle for this as one thing that did occur, that did have an amazing impression on each their lives, however clearly they’re keen to speak about it now.
“I believe the one factor that was actually fascinating was plenty of catfishing reveals often deal with the sufferer of what’s occurred. And I believe speaking to Naya and looking for out like what drove her to this, was a very fascinating dialog on her seek for id. And I believe that’s one thing actually distinctive that hasn’t actually been explored earlier than.”
Tuiasosopo was very receptive to discussing internal workings of the catfish scheme, and spoke in interviews a pair hours in size.
“She actually felt this in every thing that had occurred throughout the controversy and after the controversy and we actually simply form of began a dialog along with her. However I believe what had been clear is, neither Manti nor Naya have been fully happy or pleased with how the story had been coated on the time, they usually didn’t actually need that to be the interval on the finish of the sentence.
“And in some methods I believe that they seen our documentary as an avenue for a longform, in-depth interview. I believe we interviewed every of them for nearly a few days every to essentially give our viewers the context of what was taking place. And so there’s clearly at all times a little bit of a get-to-know-you interval. However in the end, belief was constructed and we began.”
Within the aftermath of the notorious catfish hoax, Te’o centered on coaching on the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., in preparation for the NFL Draft. The linebacker was drafted within the second spherical by the Chargers in 2013, and later bounced across the NFL.
Te’o signed a two-year take care of the Saints in 2017, earlier than he was signed to the Bears’ follow squad three years later. That follow squad contract with Chicago expired in January 2021 and he’s at the moment a free agent.
Te’o has since moved on from the scandal. He married health fanatic Jovi Nicole in 2020. The couple welcomed a daughter final summer season.
“We undoubtedly interviewed lots of people near Manti and Naya on this story about their recollections and recollections,” Maclain mentioned. “And also you get plenty of fascinating insights from totally different characters. And so what occurred within the thriller surrounding this story? Our story form of ends form of with the catfishing scandal. We don’t go an excessive amount of into modern-day. It’s actually about this one particular cut-off date in historical past and the way it affected these two people.”
Subsequent movies of Netflix’s “Untold” embrace “The Rise and Fall of AND1,” premiering Aug. 23; “Operation Flagrant Foul” about disgraced NBA referee Tim Donaghy, premiering Aug. 30; and “Race of the Century” in regards to the 1983 America’s Cup yacht race, premiering on Sept. 6.
Post a Comment