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Manti Te'o Documentary

Clonefan32

Clonefan32

Well-Known Member
Nov 19, 2008
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Anyone else watch the Netflix documentary?

So much to digest here from it. Te'o comes off completely likable and I wound up feeling really sorry for him. While it still seems unconscionable to me that this could happen, the documentary did leave me convinced he was truly duped.

The only part I didn't like is it felt like the producers let the person behind the hoax off way too easy. They seemed to allow her to justify her actions without pushing her on the extreme damage she caused.
 
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Clonefan32 said:
Anyone else watch the Netflix documentary?

So much to digest here from it. Te'o comes off completely likable and I wound up feeling really sorry for him. While it still seems unconscionable to me that this could happen, the documentary did leave me convinced he was truly duped.

The only part I didn't like is it felt like the producers let the person behind the hoax off way too easy. They seemed to allow her to justify her actions without pushing her on the extreme damage she caused.
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It would be easy to dupe people like that. There are lots of people who are naive and get tricked easily. Just watch the show Catfish on MTV and you'll see many more examples. Not to mention apps like Tinder make it really easy.
 
isufbcurt said:
It would be easy to dupe people like that. There are lots of people who are naive and get tricked easily. Just watch the show Catfish on MTV and you'll see many more examples. Not to mention apps like Tinder make it really easy.
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I definitely think the show Catfish has helped normalize how this could happen. And while I see how it can happen, I'm still just kind of stuck on the idea of making the story so public without ever having even laid eyes on her. But they did a good job of pointing out how busy he was and how it wouldn't be too far out of the norm for him to just communicate with someone by phone.
 
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Clonefan32 said:
I definitely think the show Catfish has helped normalize how this could happen. And while I see how it can happen, I'm still just kind of stuck on the idea of making the story so public without ever having even laid eyes on her. But they did a good job of pointing out how busy he was and how it wouldn't be too far out of the norm for him to just communicate with someone by phone.
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I was going to say the same thing. The show Catfish made this pretty standard. When Manti got caught, nobody even really knew it existed. I need to watch the doc and see what I think.
 
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CyCrazy said:
I watched part of it last night and it was brutal. Couldnt finish it.
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The part that got me is when he was described going within a matter of minutes from being "Hey look it's Manti Te'o" to people saying under their breath "hey that's Manti Te'o the guy that got catfished". Instantly going from being "the man" to a laughing stock.

And all the stuff with his sexuality being publicly questioned was brutal to watch as well.
 
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I've only watched the first part, but man what a story that was. I definitely get how he was fooled at first and they did a great job explaining his culture shock from Hawaii to ND and it's easy to think how connecting with someone from the same supposed background as you would be a comforting thing and got him sucked in. Ronaiah comes off as terrible, basically using their own insecurity with their identify as an excuse to carry out a pretty disgusting lie. Don't really get the sense there is any true accountability/remorse. In the end though, it's crazy to me that Manti continued to fall for this with so many impropable pieces to the story.
 
cycloneman003 said:
In the end though, it's crazy to me that Manti continued to fall for this with so many impropable pieces to the story.
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Do you know anyone in a relationship with a drug addict?

Most people WANT to believe the lies, because its easier, avoids confrontation and change. On top of that, decent/naïve people can't fathom someone would do such a thing, so they are easier to fool.
 
JM4CY said:
I still feel like part of that was on espn and the media blowing that whole relationship up so big to create a story.
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Haven’t watched doc yet but feel like there should be blame on Notre Dame as well. Their PR dept went nuts with it as well leading up to the game. Unless I’m remembering wrong.
 
JM4CY said:
I still feel like part of that was on espn and the media blowing that whole relationship up so big to create a story.
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They never really discuss it, but I think the exact nature of their relationship probably needed some nuance. The word "girlfriend" was used and obviously everyone ran with it. But this all makes more sense if you figure they were just really close friends and not in some kind of exclusive relationship.
 
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FarminCy said:
Haven’t watched doc yet but feel like there should be blame on Notre Dame as well. Their PR dept went nuts with it as well leading up to the game. Unless I’m remembering wrong.
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Did Notre Dame know the details? Did NBC (THE MEDIA) push the story out of Notre Dame's control? Did they know he had never actually met this girl/guy in person? Plus, his grandmother actually did die around the same time. Kind of reminds me of the Sammy Sosa/Mark McGwire home run chase. Who really knew? Who didn't want to know? It was a great story at the time though.
 
ISUTex said:
Did Notre Dame know the details? Did NBC (THE MEDIA) push the story out of Notre Dame's control? Did they know he had never actually met this girl/guy in person? Plus, his grandmother actually did die around the same time. Kind of reminds me of the Sammy Sosa/Mark McGwire home run chase. Who really knew? Who didn't want to know? It was a great story at the time though.
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I don't see how Notre Dame could be at fault. Up until she "died", there was no notoriety for this story. Why would they know anything about his girlfriend? And the story of her dying came so quickly in relation to it being public I can't imagine they had time to vett it.
 
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