What they’re saying: Social media reacts to Netflix documentary on former Notre Dame LB Manti Te’o
Ten years after one of the best and worst years of former Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o‘s life, the world relived it with him in a Netflix documentary titled “Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn’t Exist.” The two-part, two-hour documentary goes in-depth on the catfishing saga that took a stranglehold on Te’o’s life and shaped the person he’d become.
In the moment, it was easy to make fun of Te’o for getting so wrapped up in a relationship with a woman who was not real. All these years later, after learning the mental toll the situation took on Te’o through interviews in the documentary, people have sympathized with Te’o as the victim of an unthinkable hoax during a very impressionable period in his life.
The world is on Te’o’s side.
“Just watched the documentary,” Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde tweeted on Aug. 20. “Manti Te’o was the victim of a terrible hoax and still paid the biggest price for it. Not a great chapter in American media (or social media) annals.”
Los Angeles Chargers defensive end Breiden Fehoko was asked about Te’o in the locker room this past weekend. A native of Hawaii like Te’o, Fehoko looked up to Te’o while he was busy amassing 437 career tackles, 34.0 tackles for loss, 8.5 sacks and seven interceptions during an illustrious career at Notre Dame. All seven of the INTs came during his senior season in 2012 when he finished second in Heisman Trophy voting.
To Fehoko, Te’o was and will always be a legend for what he accomplished at Notre Dame. One who was treated unfairly from his perspective.
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“I’m a little sad and a little upset because I don’t think the world got to hear his side of things,” Fehoko said. “Especially with Polynesian culture, it’s so frowned upon to express your feelings and express your emotions. What he was going through during that era where social media was in a rise but nobody knew what catfishing was, I think we as a society owe him an apology just to see what he went through mentally and how he was able to keep his composure.
“As a young college teen, I know for a fact that if you put 90% of Division I athletes in that situation each and every one of us would fold. So I’m glad Netflix and Manti and the rest of that crew got to tell that story. It’s good to finally see him finally get his side of things told.”
The theme of “an apology” ran rampant through social media after the documentary was released. Kacy Standohar, an ESPN sideline reporter, released a list of three things she learned from watching the doc.
- The media owes him an apology.
- We as a society owe him an apology.
- The NFL owes him an apology.
“He has EVERY reason to be bitter and pissed off still, yet he forgives everyone, including (the catfisher), for this,” Standohar included in her tweet.
Te’o overcame the mental turmoil brought on by the catfishing crisis to last eight years in the NFL. He played in 62 games with 48 starts for the Chargers and New Orleans Saints. He was last in the league with the Chicago Bears practice squad in 2020, the same year Te’o married his wife, Jovi. The two welcomed a daughter, Hiromi, on Aug. 12, 2021.
