Jenn Sterger Is the Real Victim of Brett Favre's 'Downfall'

Netflix released their latest installment of Untold, this one titled The Fall of Favre, a documentary about the rise and fall of former NFL quarterback Brett Favre. Because I enjoy comeuppance and a healthy dose of schadenfreude, I’d been looking forward to this one for months. Unfortunately, there’s little satisfaction to be found because the person who paid the biggest price for the “fall of Favre” wasn’t Brett Favre; it was Jenn Sterger.

It’s a one-hour documentary, and the first half is a fairly standard chronicle of Favre’s ascent from a college quarterback in Mississippi to a Super Bowl champion in Green Bay. Things start to unravel when the Packers draft Aaron Rodgers (also the subject of a Netflix documentary), who eventually forces Favre out of Green Bay and into New York, the same path Rodgers would take years later (hopefully Jordan Love can avoid the same fate).

Enter Jenn Sterger, a 25-year-old sports reporter, who was essentially discovered by Deadspin back in its tongue-wagging heyday. She shot to viral fame after being spotted in a crop top at a college football game and later appeared in Playboy and Maxim. Smartly, she parlayed that fleeting fame into a sports journalism career, eventually landing a freelance gig with the New York Jets, where she caught the unwanted attention of Brett Favre. He began anonymously messaging her on MySpace and later sent her multiple unsolicited text messages, including dick pics, asking her to “hang out.” Favre was married at the time. Sterger had zero interest.

After that season, both moved on. But what most people don’t realize (and what I didn’t know) is that Sterger never actually met Favre. Not once. He harassed her entirely through digital means, and the Jets organization completely ignored her pleas to make him stop.

A few years later, Sterger was chatting online with Deadspin Editor-in-Chief A.J. Daulerio — a self-described scumbag at the time (though he’s since gotten sober and now writes mostly about addiction and recovery). (This is the same Daulerio who, while at Gawker, posted the Hulk Hogan sex tape that led to the site’s demise.) During that private conversation, Sterger revealed that Favre had sent her dick pics. Daulerio, without her consent, turned it into a story.

Basically, nothing happened to Favre. He had to answer a few awkward questions and got mocked online, but that was the extent of it. Meanwhile, the scandal torpedoed Sterger’s career — her co-hosted show was canceled within a month, and according to her Instagram, she’s now working as a comedian. It sucks because she did nothing — she didn’t even leak the story — and yet she bore the brunt of the fallout. The documentary makes it clear she wasn’t alone: Sterger was just one of many women Favre pursued, including — according to one reporter — while his wife was undergoing chemotherapy.

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In any case, it was a complete shitshow for Jenn Sterger. The rest of the documentary dives into Favre’s other scandal—his involvement in misappropriating welfare funds in Mississippi. He helped funnel $5 million in taxpayer money toward a volleyball facility at his daughter’s college and another $1 million-plus to a company he invested in that pitched what sounds like a scam concussion treatment. None of this is new. And unsurprisingly, Favre has faced no criminal or civil consequences.

Ultimately, Favre’s so-called “downfall” is that he lost a few endorsements because corporations now consider him bad PR. The real victims? Jenn Sterger and the taxpayers of Mississippi. Favre, meanwhile, just keeps on living his life. The taste of schadenfreude, unfortunately, is kind of bitter.

Untold: The Fall of Favre is currently streaming on Netflix.