Tegan and Sara’s Catfishing Doc Will Make You Want to Sign Off for Good
"Look, I think the vast majority of fans are just normal people and most of us have a pretty healthy relationship to celebrity," Tegan Quin told Jezebel at the premiere of Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara.
Photo: Hulu Press EntertainmentMovies Tegan and Sarah
In 2008, the identical twin indie pop duo famously known as Tegan and Sara were just starting to hit their stride, due in large part to The Con. Though it was their fifth studio album, critics called it their “breakout” moment given its mainstream success. Little did the mainstream know, however, that the Quin sisters were beginning what would become a 16-year battle with a different kind of con—one that’s not only wreaked havoc on their private and public lives, but worst of all, the community they built with their fans.
On Wednesday, Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara premiered at NewFest, the New York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Film Festival, as its spotlight film. “Look, I think the vast majority of fans are just normal people and most of us have a pretty healthy relationship to celebrity,” Tegan told Jezebel on the red carpet. “But I think this film highlights how that can go wrong.
Directed by Erin Lee Carr (Mommy Dead and Dearest, I Love You, Now Die: The Commonwealth V. Michelle Carter, and Britney vs Spears), the documentary tells the story of two Tegans. The first is the actual Tegan Quin, and the second is who the film refers to as “Fake Tegan” or “Fegan,” the unidentified force who, since 2008, has convincingly been posing as the real Tegan online to—for one reason or another—fuck with innocent people.
Fegan’s reign of terror began by catfishing fans in spaces where the real Tegan and Sara were known to engage in conversation, like LiveJournal and other message boards. In time, Fegan’s catfishing evolved into sinister harassment, which included leaking unreleased demos and posting private information like the Quins’ passport photos and their mother’s cancer diagnosis. Fegan eventually began manipulating people in Tegan and Sara’s personal lives, like their ex-girlfriends, as well as someone referred to as JT, who was deceived by Fegan into believing that her friendship with Tegan had become sexually intimate.