Johnny Manziel’s best friend claimed he got off the oil money to mislead the NCAA
- The NCAA was investigating Manziel for signing autographs for a fee
- At that time, the student athletes were not allowed to do this according to the statutes
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The Netflix documentary, which documents the rise and fall of Johnny’s Manziel in football, has delivered many surprises, including a fictional story that has been widely believed until now.
At the height of Manziel’s Star, he was being investigated by the NCAA for allegedly breaking the rules by signing autographs for money.
However, there was not enough evidence to prove this. However, Manziel received a paltry half-game suspension for failing to prevent his name from being commercialized.
In this segment of the 72-minute documentary, which premiered Tuesday, Manziel’s then-best friend/publicist/agent Nate Fitch explained the plan, which helped distort reality.
“How are you going to explain why you wear Rolex watches, drive new cars, and fly private jets?” Fitch asked rhetorically.
Nate Fitch, Johnny Manziel’s former boyfriend/publicist/agent, invented the lie that the Texas A&M legend came from a very wealthy family who made their money in the oil industry
Manziel reiterated that the myth was actually invented to avoid NCAA punishment
“As a freshman, you weren’t allowed to speak to the media, but they (the media) were allowed to speak to me,” he said, citing the rule imposed by then-Texas A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin.
“And that’s how the biggest twist that’s still alive today came about: I made up the story that his family was enormously wealthy.”
This misnomer of the Manziel family, which profits unimaginably from oil money – much like Cowboys owner Jerry Jones – was invented by Fitch and propagated by the mainstream media.
“We kind of sold the dream that my family had more money than they actually had,” Manziel added.
Then came a mashup of different journalists that illustrated how the lie became words spoken as truth.
“Here’s a kid who doesn’t need money,” said a sports reporter at News8 in Connecticut at the time.
“He comes from the oil money,” FS1 presenter Colin Cowherd said in a clip that was broadcast.
“A kid who came off the oil money,” observed Skip Bayless when discussing the NCAA investigation.
According to Manziel himself, Manziel’s grandfather helped the Heisman Trophy winner by giving him checks to avoid leaving a cash trail for purchases like flights.
Known as Johnny Football or Money Manziel, the former Browns QB became a living legend in Texas.
After Manziel’s suspension was lifted, he and Fitch returned to the once illicit activity.
“And we got right back to signing articles,” Fitch said. “We don’t do anything criminal.” “We just don’t obey the NCAA statute of not making money.”
The Manziel Documentary is the hottest movie on Netflix at the time of writing.