Author Topic: Deadspin: Manti Te’o’s Dead Girlfriend is a Hoax (Read 8767 times)

FreebirdSTF · « **Reply #25 on:** January 18, 2013, 11:03:02 AM »

BTW we know he Skypes with his parents, but he never Skyped with this dear girlfriend. Plausible but odd.

EDGECRUSHER · « **Reply #26 on:** January 18, 2013, 12:44:03 PM »

He is innocent like Barry Bonds is innocent. There may be no damning evidence that 100% removes all doubt, but you are an idiot if you believe him.

BlackLight · « **Reply #27 on:** January 18, 2013, 02:58:16 PM »

TMZ reports that Te'o is tell friends that he didn't report learning of the hoax immediately after finding out because he didn't want it to become a huge distraction for the team heading into the National Championship Game.

That actually sounds quite plausible to me. It would've been a huge distraction if he had come clean a month before the game. And it would help (though not completely) explain why he continued to talk up his dead girlfriend even after finding she wasn't real.

Assuming this bit is actually true, I think the focus shifts to questions of his naivety level and why he lied about having met her.

Chus-Kay · « **Reply #28 on:** January 18, 2013, 02:59:47 PM »

so can someone explain whether this girl ever existed or not? story in the OP suggests no such person exists, but iirc, it also says Te'o said he spent time with her.

EDGECRUSHER · « **Reply #29 on:** January 18, 2013, 03:46:59 PM »

Quote from: Chus-Kay on January 18, 2013, 02:59:47 PM

so can someone explain whether this girl ever existed or not? story in the OP suggests no such person exists, but iirc, it also says Te'o said he spent time with her.

She doesn't exist and at the bare minimum, Te'o lied about meeting her. Those are facts. What is still up for discussion is what else he lied about and his intelligence level. I don't believe that he got duped for one second, because that would mean an extraordinary level of stupidity and an extraordinary level of commitment by a "mean person" that took place over years with many different forms of communication like Twitter and phone calls.

He said when she was dying he would stay on the phone with her for hours to hear her breathe. That means the hoaxer used a number that apparently is untraceable like James Bond and breathed into a phone for hours. He also had to create a family with different e-mail and Twitter accounts.

People who spend 18 hours a day playing World of Warcraft aren't this committed.

BobbyR · « **Reply #30 on:** January 18, 2013, 04:31:02 PM »

oh please, the guy lied hands down. Will it affect his career? I don't know, how good is he?

BlackLight · « **Reply #31 on:** January 18, 2013, 05:05:01 PM »

Quote from: Chus-Kay on January 18, 2013, 02:59:47 PM

so can someone explain whether this girl ever existed or not? story in the OP suggests no such person exists, but iirc, it also says Te'o said he spent time with her.

That's the rub. All we know for sure is that "Lennay Kekua" does not exist. Which is to say that there is no woman answering to that name who ever met Manti Te'o, or went to Stanford, or got into a serious car accident, or was diagnosed with leukemia, or later died from it.

The only hint of there being an actual woman involved in this falls within the narrative of Te'o being duped. When Te'o receives a phone call from 'Lennay's number on 12/6 (nearly 3 months after she "died"), he speaks to a female voice that he recognized as being Lennay. So far, no other reporting has turned up any actual woman connected to this story, other than the one whose photo was stolen and used as the face of Lennay (I believe named 'Rita' in the DS article).

All of the reporting right now is focused on a guy as the one orchestrating the hoax. We're now two days in, and nobody's talking about any girl helping him out. I'm thinking the longer we end up waiting for that, the less likely it is to be true. It's still early, though.

EDGECRUSHER · « **Reply #32 on:** January 18, 2013, 05:39:12 PM »

Quote from: BobbyR on January 18, 2013, 04:31:02 PM

oh please, the guy lied hands down. Will it affect his career? I don't know, how good is he?

My thoughts exactly. He said he met her in person and that means he lied. So, that's that. He lied. If he is on record as lying and everything else points to him being the dumbest person ever and the most elaborate hoax ever, that means he lied. This isn't a court case, it's a public opinion case. You don't need enough evidence to convict, just enough to go "He is full of shit".

As far as his talent goes, he can maybe go in the 1st round. Of course, this was before all of this. I think this knocks him down to the 3rd or 4th round because these are some serious character issues. Run ins with the law can be pointed to poor environment and immaturity. This points to serious mental problems. I would be afraid to meet this guy.

Chus-Kay · « **Reply #33 on:** January 18, 2013, 05:42:34 PM »

Quote from: BlackLight on January 18, 2013, 05:05:01 PM

All of the reporting right now is focused on a guy as the one orchestrating the hoax. We're now two days in, and nobody's talking about any girl helping him out. I'm thinking the longer we end up waiting for that, the less likely it is to be true. It's still early, though.

put me down for tranny as the perpetrator.

The_Spoiler · « **Reply #34 on:** January 18, 2013, 05:49:46 PM »

Wait...how exactly does Lance Armstrong fit into all of this. Because I am pretty sure that based upon this timimg of this story breaking that he must somehow be involved.

{...and that gun stealing Obama, too}

FreebirdSTF · « **Reply #35 on:** January 18, 2013, 07:13:54 PM »

It was "Reba" in the article that noticed her picture was being used. She was an acquaintance of the guy who allegedly catfished Te'o.

BlackLight · « **Reply #36 on:** January 18, 2013, 10:25:27 PM »

Te'o is reportedly doing an interview with Jeremy Schapp right now. Details to be posted later tonight.

BlackLight · « **Reply #37 on:** January 19, 2013, 01:03:37 AM »

Interview complete - no cameras, limited audio, Te'o's attorney present throughout. Here are some of the bullet points.

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8859077/manti-teo-notre-dame-fighting-irish-denies-being-part-hoax-late-girlfriend

• He lied to his father about having met Kekua, prompting his father to tell reporters that the two had met. Several media stories indicated that he and Kekua had met. Te'o insisted they never did.
• He tried to speak with Kekua via Skype and FaceTime on several occasions, but the person at the other end of the line was in what he called a "black box" and wasn't seen.
• The first time he met Ronaiah Tuiasosopo was after Notre Dame beat USC on Nov. 24. Tuiasosopo is the man Deadspin and others have said was behind the hoax. Earlier Friday, ESPN's "Outside The Lines" reported that Tuiasosopo called a church friend in early December crying and admitted to duping Te'o. The friend, a woman in her mid-20s, agreed to be interviewed under the condition that she not be identified, saying she was fearful for her family's safety because of the overwhelming publicity the story has generated.
Te'o spoke of Kekua as his girlfriend several times after Dec. 6. One was at the Heisman Trophy presentation in New York on Dec. 8 to ESPN's Chris Fowler. Another was on ESPN Radio the same day. There were two other times, including a column in the Los Angeles Times on Dec. 10. He was also asked about it at a Jan. 3 news conference before the BCS title game but did not refer to his "girlfriend" directly.
Te'o said he "catered" his stories so people would think he "met her before she passed away."
"I knew that -- I even knew that it was crazy that I was with somebody that I didn't meet," he said. "And that alone people find out that this girl who died I was so invested in, and I didn't meet her as well."

BlackLight · « **Reply #38 on:** January 19, 2013, 02:15:04 AM »

Why didn’t Manti Te’o visit Lennay Kekua in the hospital? Te’o to ESPN: “It never really crossed my mind. I don’t know. I was in school.”

Zandrax · « **Reply #39 on:** January 19, 2013, 06:04:45 AM »

She left him for Little Jimmy

FreebirdSTF · « **Reply #40 on:** January 19, 2013, 08:16:18 AM »

Quote from: BlackLight on January 19, 2013, 02:15:04 AM

Why didn’t Manti Te’o visit Lennay Kekua in the hospital? Te’o to ESPN: “It never really crossed my mind. I don’t know. I was in school.”

Even if he was completely duped this answer makes him a scumbag imho.

Chus-Kay · « **Reply #41 on:** January 19, 2013, 09:28:33 AM »

bullshit.

The_Spoiler · « **Reply #42 on:** January 19, 2013, 09:31:27 AM »

TMZ is reporting that Manti's girlfriend will be appearing in Playboy's "Imaginary Girls of the PAC 10" spread this spring.

POE-Bot Activated! · « **Reply #43 on:** January 19, 2013, 03:00:02 PM »

Te'o is telling ESPN that he had no part in the hoax whatsoever...yet he lied to his parents about it.
Dude is a football player and a linebacker. He could get all the on-campus tail that he wants, yet he has an online girlfriend that he never met and shows pictures of a girl he doesn't know is not his girlfriend? This whole thing makes him more socially awkward than the guys on Big Bang Theory.

RealMarchHare · « **Reply #44 on:** January 19, 2013, 03:15:36 PM »

He got catfished and honestly having been a big name football player and linebacker I'm not surprised to see him lying to people about having met her as society still does not consider it acceptable to be in a serious relationship with someone online. This being a perfect example as to why as you never know who's on the other end.

His reaction was normal for someone in his situation with how he felt to try and justify taking the relationship so seriously.

His post finding out about it all though has been handled HORRENDOUSLY.

BlackLight · « **Reply #45 on:** January 19, 2013, 05:18:12 PM »

Now on Day 4, the big void (or, at least one of them) is still the identity of this girl that Te'o is claiming he spoke to on 12/6 (when he first found out he was duped). He says he thought she sounded like Lennay, but thought she was actually "U'ilani," - Lennay's purported sister.

We know about Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, the alleged hoax mastermind. He hasn't spoke publicly yet, but other people have spoken publicly about him having catfished other people, but without naming anyone else that helped him do it. I imagine that if/when this guy goes public, he will name names. Who they'll be is the question.

EDGECRUSHER · « **Reply #46 on:** January 19, 2013, 05:28:35 PM »

I still don't buy this for a second. He admitted he lied and nothing else adds up. He wasn't visibly upset the day she died, he didn't even think to visit her in the hospital OR go to her funeral?

This story will not hold up when he gets interviewed by NFL teams. Jeff Ireland has no problem being a dick in these things, I can't wait to hear his questions for Te'o.

BlackLight · « **Reply #47 on:** January 19, 2013, 08:54:51 PM »

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8860258/friend-manti-teo-recalls-car-accident-phone-call-april-28

New report that a friend of Te'o's can confirm that Te'o received a phone call last spring from someone claiming to be Kekua's brother updating him on Lennay's condition (following the supposed car accident).

Assuming this is true, it argues against Te'o being complicit in the hoax.

EDGECRUSHER · « **Reply #48 on:** January 19, 2013, 10:31:08 PM »

His known lies and his incredible stupidity are why people believe he was in on it. I cannot believe a person can be so stupid and not have a bunch of Buckeye stickers on his helmet.

BobbyR · « **Reply #49 on:** January 20, 2013, 07:39:20 AM »

Quote from: BlackLight on January 19, 2013, 08:54:51 PM

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8860258/friend-manti-teo-recalls-car-accident-phone-call-april-28

New report that a friend of Te'o's can confirm that Te'o received a phone call last spring from someone claiming to be Kekua's brother updating him on Lennay's condition (following the supposed car accident).

Assuming this is true, it argues against Te'o being complicit in the hoax.

or his friend is in on it, or he faked the call to further the hoax