Nev Schulman Punched a Woman in the Face, Read About It In His New Book
“Catfish’’ host/debunker of digital deception Nev Schulman admitted that he punched a woman in the face when he was a student at Sarah Lawrence College.
The admission doesn’t come as a result of an accusation, but rather a casual recollection of an incident that resulted in his expulsion from his mother’s alma mater. The segment of Schulman’s new book, “In Real Life: Love, Lies & Identity in the Digital Age,’’ came to light following his (now deleted) tweet that read, “Cowards make me sick. Real men show strength through patience & honor. This elevator is abuse free. #RESPECT’’
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The Tuesday night tweet was accompanied by a photo of a stone-faced Schulman in an elevator that, as advertised, lacked the lifeless form of a woman struck unconscious by a man. Gawker quickly resurfaced rumors that Shulman had once been involved in an incident of battery himself, only to confirm the claims via a passage from his recently released book.
Schulman, of course, was speaking in reference to Ray Rice, the former Baltimore Ravens running back who was caught on camera as he knocked his then-fiance out cold and dragged her body from an elevator. Like Schulman, Rice was punished for his deed — after some gentle coercing from the media and well, most of civilized society. But unlike Schulman, he has yet to find a way to capitalize on it.
Just look at Schulman, who used his skills as a reality TV savant, to hone in on the perfect opportunity to hop on a hot topic news peg in order to promote his new book. Brilliant!
Whether or not he was making a genuine statement about “real men’’ feels pretty irrelevant, as I’ve learned through three seasons from “Catfish’’ all online declarations should be taken with a grain of salt. But I am now DEFINITELY aware that Nev Schulman, Sarah Lawrence College non-graduate and amateur party photographer, has written a new book! #RESPECT
Do the details matter? Does it seem relevant that Schulman allegedly hit a woman in the face until “her eye was bruised and swollen’’? Do we care that Schulman may have used his network of nepotism to nonchalantly glide through any sticky situation that probably could have resulted in much worse consequences than expulsion for any other student? Does it bother you that in Schulman’s self-documented recounting of the incident he claims that he did not discover that “the short, stocky, crew-cut-styled individual’’ was a woman until after he fled the scene?
Perhaps not. Schulman declared the altercation an instance of “self-defense,’’ in a statement to Gawker and brushed off his indiscretions as something he was “forced’’ to do. Sounds sketchy? Want to decide for yourself? Just pick up a copy of his new book!
But what can Rice do? Surely he’ll have to find an opportune nugget for self promotion of his own. Naturally, good taste and general human decency will have to play second fiddle, but when there are somanyinstanceslikethese from which to gain traction, the opportunities to exploit domestic violence seem endless.
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