As "BS High" (2023 release; 97 min.) opens, it is "Los Angeles, February 2022", and Roy Johnson, the coach and overall brains behind the fake Bishop Sycamore High School football team is talking to the film makers. We then switch to ESPN footage of the game between IMG Academy and Bishop Sycamore, in which the latter is simply demolished, and it's not long thereafter that a Columbus Dispatch reporter exposes the scam. At this point we are 10 minutes into the documentary.
Couple of comments: this is the latest from Oscar winning co-directors Martin Desmond Roe and. Travon Free ("Two Distant Strangers"). Here they reassess what led to the inexcusable scandal that was the fake school and fake football team playing on national TV. The film makers go back to the very beginning, and how it ballooned from there. There are lots of guilty parties involved, but none more so than Roy Johnson, who shamelessly takes advantage of disillusioned kids with a dream to play college football. Johnson's ego knows no boundaries. "Do I look like a con artist?" he asks the film makers. The answer is obvious. Later on, Johnson comments with a straight face "I am the most honest liar that I know" after he is exposed on multiple other charges including domestic violence. Other guilty parties along the way include ESPN and IMG Academy, none of which apparently did any serious due diligence on Bishop Sycamore before agreeing to stage and participate in the televised game, all for sake of money. Sadly, the State of Ohio (where the fake school was based) doesn't come out very well either (where is the oversight?). The biggest hurt is inflicted on the Bishop Sycamore kids, one more than the other, when the house of cards comes crumbling down. One can only hope that Roy Johnson never sets foot again near kids of any age. How this man can sleep at night, I have no idea.
"BS High" premiered at this year's Tribeca Film Festival to good critical acclaim. It started airing on HBO and streaming on Max a few days ago. If you want to understand how a narcissistic scammer can build a fake football tame out of a non-existing school, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.
Couple of comments: this is the latest from Oscar winning co-directors Martin Desmond Roe and. Travon Free ("Two Distant Strangers"). Here they reassess what led to the inexcusable scandal that was the fake school and fake football team playing on national TV. The film makers go back to the very beginning, and how it ballooned from there. There are lots of guilty parties involved, but none more so than Roy Johnson, who shamelessly takes advantage of disillusioned kids with a dream to play college football. Johnson's ego knows no boundaries. "Do I look like a con artist?" he asks the film makers. The answer is obvious. Later on, Johnson comments with a straight face "I am the most honest liar that I know" after he is exposed on multiple other charges including domestic violence. Other guilty parties along the way include ESPN and IMG Academy, none of which apparently did any serious due diligence on Bishop Sycamore before agreeing to stage and participate in the televised game, all for sake of money. Sadly, the State of Ohio (where the fake school was based) doesn't come out very well either (where is the oversight?). The biggest hurt is inflicted on the Bishop Sycamore kids, one more than the other, when the house of cards comes crumbling down. One can only hope that Roy Johnson never sets foot again near kids of any age. How this man can sleep at night, I have no idea.
"BS High" premiered at this year's Tribeca Film Festival to good critical acclaim. It started airing on HBO and streaming on Max a few days ago. If you want to understand how a narcissistic scammer can build a fake football tame out of a non-existing school, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.