Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara – when fandom gets toxic

Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara tells a horrible and unresolved story about 15 years of catfishing carried out by a fan or fans of Tegan and Sara. It is fandom gone toxic and hurt many people, including Tegan who was the main target.

Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara, directed by Erin Lee Carr, looks at what’s been happening for 15 years. Someone got into the personal information of the well known band. They used that insider knowledge to open fake email accounts and websites pretending to be Tegan. In the film they refer to the Fake Tegan as Fegan.

Fake + Tegan = Fegan

Fegan carried on years-long conversations with fans who thought they were in a relationship with the real Tegan. Fegan published unreleased music, passport information, private relationship gossip. For a long time Tegan and Sara didn’t know it was even happening. When they found out, they published something on their official site saying it was not Tegan. Then they heard from several people who had been affected by the imposter. In the film, several of the victims of Fegan tell their stories.

Whoever Fegan is, they also posted disgusting fan fiction and lies about Tegan, painting her as an evil person.

Was it someone they knew and trusted? Their level of access to information was complete. Or was it some sick stranger?

Tegan and Sara hired IT experts, lawyers, and security people. They changed the way they interacted with fans to protect themselves. They tried to protect their privacy, but it was too late.

After years of investigation, they have not been able to identify the person or persons who are doing this to them. In this day and age, the fact that they can’t identify where this fanatical stan is or who it is seems unreal to me.

I think them going public with this story was a desperate attempt to reach whoever is doing this to make them aware of how many people are hurt by it. The fans who thought they were in a personal relationship with Tegan have been traumatized, not to mention the trauma inflicted on Tegan and Sara.

Social media and the internet have changed everything about how celebrities engage with fans. Yet there are fanatical fans out there who think they deserve more, think their love for their idol should be returned in a personal way. When you think of the IT skills Fegan must have and the hours and years they’ve devoted to catfishing Tegan Quin, you have to wonder what they would have been capable of if they used their lives for something good instead.

Not long ago there was a TV series by Clea DuVall called High School that told the story about Tegan and Sara’s early years. It was told with the approval of the indie-pop group. At the time of that series, people didn’t expect lying and stalking from fans.

Now hacking affects everyone. We hear stories about fans going too far, but even ordinary people are affected. We learn that our information has been stolen and is available on the dark web. We get Facebook friend invites from friends we already follow. We’re taught how to create secure passwords and use two-factor authentication. None of it works to completely stop hackers. This very website was hacked just a couple of weeks ago and it cost me almost $500 to clean it up.

The promise of the internet has turned into a double edged sword.

Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara is streaming on Hulu.