Modern fandom is a funny scary thing.
Often, in our shared love of pop stars, we can find community with others around the globe. Especially for young queer folks, that sense of belonging can be our safe space, our lifeline.
But what happens when someone invades that space?
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The upcoming documentary Fanatical: The Catfishing Of Tegan And Sara tells the shocking true story of how one person took advantage of a fandom, leaving two musicians and their hundreds of thousands of fans vulnerable—and completely freaked out.
At the center of it all is pop-rock duo Tegan and Sara Quin, identical twin sisters from Alberta, Canada who began making music together in the late ’90s, and rose to superstardom in the 2000s with hits like “Walking With A Ghost” and “Back In Your Head.”
Both sisters are gay, and they’ve been open about their identities from the beginning of their careers, frequently advocating for LGBTQ+ rights on stage and off, even at a time when queer people weren’t as visible in the music scene.
Because of this, as Sara herself puts it, “being a fan of Tegan And Sara was code for ‘I’m queer,'” and the sisters felt a responsibility to nurture and protect these fans.
Their rise coincided with the dawn of social media, so the sisters were early adopters, making themselves accessible and fostering community through these various platforms. But they never suspected someone would use these same tools to hack into their private lives and betray the trust of their fans.
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From director Erin Lee Carr (Britney Vs. Spears), Fanatical brings this story about the dark side of fame and fandom to light for the first time.
After it first was discovered that someone had been using Tegan’s identity online to access personal information and catfish fans, her team launched an investigation in 2011 to find out who was behind “Fegan,’ a.k.a. Fake Tegan.
What they found was downright horrifying. A handful of fans had been led to believe they were communicating with Tegan directly—some even would consider their correspondence sexual in nature. Meanwhile, as it became clear Fegan had access to passports, addresses, and other personal information, the sisters began to wonder if it could possibly be someone they knew behind all of it…
“Fake Tegan systematically destroyed my life,” Tegan claimed.
Over a decade later, that became the foundation for a deeper look into this yet-to-be-solved mystery, as production on the film uncovered yet more victims, potential suspects, and more shocking twists in the narrative.
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Told through behind-the-scenes footage, archived communications from Fegan, and vulnerable interviews with Tegan, Sara, their team, and a number of their targeted fans, Fanatical is far from your average music documentary—it’s “a thriller, a caper, a whodunnit, and an intimate personal journey rolled into one.”
Fanatical: The Catfishing Of Tegan And Sara will next head to Newfest, NYC’s LGBTQ+ film festival, on Oct. 16, and then will begin streaming exclusively on Hulu on Oct. 18. You can check out its gripping new trailer below:
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