Matt Sandusky, adopted son of former Penn State coach and convicted sex offender Jerry Sandusky, made his first public appearance Sunday when he showed up at the Sundance Film Festival to help promote "Happy Valley," a documentary about Penn State and the sexual abuse scandal that consumed it, Yahoo News reported.
The film showcases Matt as the central figure and topics such as the abuse he suffered at the hands of his adopted father and the conflict he felt when news broke that Jerry had abused other boys are explored.
"Am I going to remain the coward I am or am I going to risk everything to tell the truth," Matt said in the film, explaining his decision to testify at his father's trial. "I had to be loyal to the family. I wasn't going to betray him. Yet here I sit, betrayed by them all."
Convicted in 2012, Jerry was charged on 45 counts of sexual abuse against young boys as a former Penn State defensive coordinator during a period of 15 years, Yahoo News reported.
The Second Mile, a nonprofit charity Jerry Sandusky founded, which helped at-risk and underprivileged youth in the Philadelphia area, was where Jerry met most of his victims. After several of the victims testified, he was sentenced to 30-60 years in prison on Oct.9, 2012. Since then, his appeals have been denied.
According to Yahoo News, "Late coach Joe Paterno, who was made aware of the abuse, including incidents in the football locker room showers, told his superiors about an incident that was reported to him, but never made an effort to go to the police. Paterno was ultimately fired over the scandal and died shortly after from complications during his battle with lung cancer."
Jerry's behavior, including scholarship penalties, a postseason ban and the stripping of many of Paterno's wins were some of the unprecedented sanctions that were placed on Penn State, Yahoo News reported.
The influence of athletics on both a university and a community became national debates after the Penn State ordeal came into limelight.
"His name was a golden ticket," Matt Sandusky said in the movie. "It was good to be next to him, to feel powerful, to feel that people envied me instead of looking down on me. If people thought of Joe Paterno as god, Jerry was like Jesus. They were to me the two most powerful people. They could do whatever they wanted, they could do no wrong."
The focus is around the football culture surrounding Penn State in the film. It also looks at the roles Jerry and Paterno played in it while questioning how much Paterno knew regarding Jerry's misdeeds and the football program he tried to protect, according to Yahoo News.
The film, directed by Amir Bar-Lev, shows the complex nature of American sports culture and is receiving rave reviews for its depiction on the topic.
"I'm happy with my involvement in the film and how it was told," said Matt Sandusky, who declined on Sunday to talk about whether Jerry Sandusky had abused any of his other children. "The ending is what I want to be seen - what we've endured and been through. You feel the world is against you but we have each other."
