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Is Manti Te'o's girlfriend an internet hoax?
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Nerd2



Joined: 06 Jun 2010
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PostPosted: 01/16/13 5:26 pm    ::: Is Manti Te'o's girlfriend an internet hoax? Reply Reply with quote

A very interesting article from Deadspin: http://deadspin.com/5976517/manti-teos-dead-girlfriend-the-most-heartbreaking-and-inspirational-story-of-the-college-football-season-is-a-hoax

Quote:

This week, we got in touch with a woman living in Torrance, Calif. We'll call her Reba, to protect her identity. She was initially confused, then horrified to find that she had become the face of a dead woman. "That picture," she told us over the phone, "is a picture of me from my Facebook account."


What they claim is that Lennay Kekua was a made up person with this lady's pic used without her knowledge by a friend, Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, and that the entire relationship was a sham. It's an interesting theory and should be easily verifiable by anyone who can find - or not find - factual information about this Lennay Kekua.


Nerd2



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PostPosted: 01/16/13 5:35 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

ND seems to have acknowledged that it was a hoax: http://www.tmz.com/2013/01/16/manti-teo-girlfriend-death-hoax-notre-dame-linebacker-lennay-kekua/

But they didn't tell the national media who kept up the storyline. And didn't Te'o claim to have actually met her?


PUmatty



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PostPosted: 01/16/13 5:49 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

This is shocking.


p_d_swanson



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PostPosted: 01/16/13 5:52 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

I e-mail her every single day
Just to make sure that everything's okay
It's a pity she lives so far away
In Canada!


PUmatty



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PostPosted: 01/16/13 6:00 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

p_d_swanson wrote:
I e-mail her every single day
Just to make sure that everything's okay
It's a pity she lives so far away
In Canada!


Makes one wonder.


pilight



Joined: 23 Sep 2004
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PostPosted: 01/16/13 6:07 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

Nerd2 wrote:
didn't Te'o claim to have actually met her?


He mentioned her in interviews

Quote:
girlfriend Lennay Kekau "made me promise, when it happened, that I would stay and play," Te'o said Sunday night.


He mentioned her death in a press conference

Quote:
I remember I asked Coach Diaco, "Coach, what time is it?" And he said, "It's 12:01." And that would be 9:00, 9:01, California time and 9:00 is when they closed the casket for my girlfriend


And this...

<script src="http://player.espn.com/player.js?&playerBrandingId=4ef8000cbaf34c1687a7d9a26fe0e89e&pcode=1kNG061cgaoolOncv54OAO1ceO-I&width=576&height=324&externalId=espn:8468427&thruParam_espn-ui[autoPlay]=false&thruParam_espn-ui[playRelatedExternally]=true"></script>



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Nerd2



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PostPosted: 01/16/13 6:21 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

PUmatty wrote:
p_d_swanson wrote:
I e-mail her every single day
Just to make sure that everything's okay
It's a pity she lives so far away
In Canada!


Makes one wonder.


Me too. He seemed to be talking about his love of her to his own family which sounds very different from trying to create a fake gf for publicity purposes. He wouldn't have led his family on like that for such a cynical reason.

Quote:
2010-2011: Te'o and Kekua are friends. "She was gifted in music, multi-lingual, had dreams grounded in reality and the talent to catch up to them" (South Bend Tribune). "They started out as just friends," Te'o's father, Brian, told the Tribune in October 2012. "Every once in a while, she would travel to Hawaii, and that happened to be the time Manti was home, so he would meet with her there."


Musically-gifted? Tuiasisopo himself is. And as they pointed out he had also been in a car accident. Could this be a very different type of cover-up? It is pure supposition on my part but I've been around a few folks who undertook the same type of gender deception because they could not come out to their families.

In any case, Te'o was apparently told about her death just hours after his grandmother actually passed. It sounded like a convenient excuse to get rid of an embarrassing hoax. And I am totally willing to bet that the Deadspin article was held up to not mess with the NC since it seems clear that they knew two weeks beforehand. Could this be part of why Te'o played so poorly?


pilight



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PostPosted: 01/16/13 6:39 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

Te'o has issued a statement:

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8851033/story-manti-teo-girlfriend-death-apparently-hoax


Quote:
"This is incredibly embarrassing to talk about, but over an extended period of time, I developed an emotional relationship with a woman I met online. We maintained what I thought to be an authentic relationship by communicating frequently online and on the phone, and I grew to care deeply about her.

"To realize that I was the victim of what was apparently someone's sick joke and constant lies was, and is, painful and humiliating.

"It further pains me that the grief I felt and the sympathies expressed to me at the time of my grandmother's death in September were in any way deepened by what I believed to be another significant loss in my life.

"I am enormously grateful for the support of my family, friends and Notre Dame fans throughout this year. To think that I shared with them my happiness about my relationship and details that I thought to be true about her just makes me sick. I hope that people can understand how trying and confusing this whole experience has been.

"In retrospect, I obviously should have been much more cautious. If anything good comes of this, I hope it is that others will be far more guarded when they engage with people online than I was.

"Fortunately, I have many wonderful things in my life, and I'm looking forward to putting this painful experience behind me as I focus on preparing for the NFL Draft."



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pilight



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PostPosted: 01/16/13 6:45 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

What does this story say about the state of sports "journalism"? Not one of the many, many reporters who parroted the dead girlfriend story made any effort to find out anything about her.



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jammerbirdi



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PostPosted: 01/16/13 6:47 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

pilight wrote:
Te'o has issued a statement:

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8851033/story-manti-teo-girlfriend-death-apparently-hoax


Quote:
"This is incredibly embarrassing to talk about, but over an extended period of time, I developed an emotional relationship with a woman I met online. We maintained what I thought to be an authentic relationship by communicating frequently online and on the phone, and I grew to care deeply about her.

"To realize that I was the victim of what was apparently someone's sick joke and constant lies was, and is, painful and humiliating.

"It further pains me that the grief I felt and the sympathies expressed to me at the time of my grandmother's death in September were in any way deepened by what I believed to be another significant loss in my life.

"I am enormously grateful for the support of my family, friends and Notre Dame fans throughout this year. To think that I shared with them my happiness about my relationship and details that I thought to be true about her just makes me sick. I hope that people can understand how trying and confusing this whole experience has been.

"In retrospect, I obviously should have been much more cautious. If anything good comes of this, I hope it is that others will be far more guarded when they engage with people online than I was.

"Fortunately, I have many wonderful things in my life, and I'm looking forward to putting this painful experience behind me as I focus on preparing for the NFL Draft."


Bu-, b-b-b-b-b-bu-but. What about this?

"They started out as just friends," Te'o's father, Brian, told the Tribune in October 2012. "Every once in a while, she would travel to Hawaii, and that happened to be the time Manti was home, so he would meet with her there."



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jammerbirdi



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PostPosted: 01/16/13 6:52 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

pilight wrote:
What does this story say about the state of sports "journalism"? Not one of the many, many reporters who parroted the dead girlfriend story made any effort to find out anything about her.


Nooo. Here's something.

"Kekua's funeral takes place in Carson, Calif. (The Associated Press puts it in "Carson City, Calif.," which does not exist.)"

Da good ol' AP.




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Every woman who has ever been presented with a career/sex quid pro quo in the entertainment industry should come forward and simply say, “Me, too.” - jammer The New York Times 10/10/17


Last edited by jammerbirdi on 01/16/13 6:57 pm; edited 1 time in total
PUmatty



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PostPosted: 01/16/13 6:56 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

If he wasn't in on it, he is the most callous, heartless bastard imaginable. Not once, but twice, his this woman who he considered his girlfriend and claims to have felt and deep relationship with was in the hospital and near death and he didn't visit, didn't Skype, didn't anything. Seemingly made no effort to actually see or meet his "girlfriend" while she was on her death bed.


jammerbirdi



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PostPosted: 01/16/13 6:58 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

PUmatty wrote:
If he wasn't in on it, he is the most callous, heartless bastard imaginable. Not once, but twice, his this woman who he considered his girlfriend and claims to have felt and deep relationship with was in the hospital and near death and he didn't visit, didn't Skype, didn't anything. Seemingly made no effort to actually see or meet his "girlfriend" while she was on her death bed.


Earth to Matty! FOOTBALL! Rolling Eyes Get yer priorities straight.



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Every woman who has ever been presented with a career/sex quid pro quo in the entertainment industry should come forward and simply say, “Me, too.” - jammer The New York Times 10/10/17
pilight



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PostPosted: 01/16/13 7:23 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

jammerbirdi wrote:
pilight wrote:
Te'o has issued a statement:

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8851033/story-manti-teo-girlfriend-death-apparently-hoax


Quote:
"This is incredibly embarrassing to talk about, but over an extended period of time, I developed an emotional relationship with a woman I met online. We maintained what I thought to be an authentic relationship by communicating frequently online and on the phone, and I grew to care deeply about her.

"To realize that I was the victim of what was apparently someone's sick joke and constant lies was, and is, painful and humiliating.

"It further pains me that the grief I felt and the sympathies expressed to me at the time of my grandmother's death in September were in any way deepened by what I believed to be another significant loss in my life.

"I am enormously grateful for the support of my family, friends and Notre Dame fans throughout this year. To think that I shared with them my happiness about my relationship and details that I thought to be true about her just makes me sick. I hope that people can understand how trying and confusing this whole experience has been.

"In retrospect, I obviously should have been much more cautious. If anything good comes of this, I hope it is that others will be far more guarded when they engage with people online than I was.

"Fortunately, I have many wonderful things in my life, and I'm looking forward to putting this painful experience behind me as I focus on preparing for the NFL Draft."


Bu-, b-b-b-b-b-bu-but. What about this?

"They started out as just friends," Te'o's father, Brian, told the Tribune in October 2012. "Every once in a while, she would travel to Hawaii, and that happened to be the time Manti was home, so he would meet with her there."


What hoaxer is so dedicated that she would speak to him for hours on the phone every night (as Te'o claims they did)? This went on for almost three years, from the supposed "meeting" in November 2009 to her alleged death in September 2012. That's a long time and a lot of effort for a joke.



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jammerbirdi



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PostPosted: 01/16/13 7:35 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

Okay. Not seated on a jury and held to any standards whatsoever, I think I've kind of made up my mind about the larger issues here.

What interests me is the why. And I'm a big believer that sometimes something that can seem huge in terms of momentary contextual importance can start a pebble rolling down the hill that goes on and on, etc.

There's conjecture that this may have been concocted to cover up Manti's possibly being gay, lack of dating at ND, or even a relationship with his partner/scammer in all this, the once-promising quarterback on the other side of all those tweets and pictures.

Along those lines, what if something really small, but really HUGE to Manti, occurred, a tiny 'busted' moment which he felt he needed to account for or cover up... and that snowballed into this massive hoax.

Say, back at that Stanford game where he 'met' ahem, girlfriend. What if after the game one of his teammates said to him, 'Hey, Manti. Who's that pretty little dude in the stands you was staring at the whole game. Whassup with that, man? Manti you ain't got a boyfriend do you?" Everybody laughs. Manti says something like, "DUDE? You didn't see the chick? I got her number, fool!"

Or any number of a zillion possible little tells that someone around him picked up on that caused him horror at the possibility that he would be found out that then caused him to initiate the creation of a fake girlfriend/cover. I don't know. It's just much easier for me to believe that this was done out of fear and trying to hide something than it is that he was trying to garner sympathy or publicity. But hey, at this point, only The Shadow knows for sure.



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Every woman who has ever been presented with a career/sex quid pro quo in the entertainment industry should come forward and simply say, “Me, too.” - jammer The New York Times 10/10/17
jammerbirdi



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PostPosted: 01/16/13 7:41 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

pilight wrote:


What hoaxer is so dedicated that she would speak to him for hours on the phone every night (as Te'o claims they did)? This went on for almost three years, from the supposed "meeting" in November 2009 to her alleged death in September 2012. That's a long time and a lot of effort for a joke.


The absolute worst part of this? Or, well... maybe not, but it's certainly up there.

Notre Dame itself joins in. On the koo-koo side of the street. Shocked

Notre Dame Statement: Manti Teo

On Dec. 26, Notre Dame coaches were informed by Manti Teo and his parents that Manti had been the victim of what appears to be a hoax in which someone using the fictitious name Lennay Kekua apparently ingratiated herself with Manti and then conspired with others to lead him to believe she had tragically died of leukemia. The University immediately initiated an investigation to assist Manti and his family in discovering the motive for and nature of this hoax. While the proper authorities will continue to investigate this troubling matter, this appears to be, at a minimum, a sad and very cruel deception to entertain its perpetrators.

Dennis Brown
University Spokesman | Assistant Vice President



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Every woman who has ever been presented with a career/sex quid pro quo in the entertainment industry should come forward and simply say, “Me, too.” - jammer The New York Times 10/10/17
blaase22



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PostPosted: 01/16/13 10:14 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

It's obvious to me this is guy is gay and made the girlfriend up to cover up but had to find a way to come up with why she was never around and didn't think anyone would care to investigate further.


JayeRunner



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PostPosted: 01/16/13 10:22 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

When you think you have heard it all.

I am surprised an acquaintance, friend (for money and/or 15 minutes of fame?), teammate (ride the bench never get to play, nothing like bringing down a star player type), etc. never came forward - at least not before now. Does he have any friends? Family cover-up is understandable. Never mess with million dollar earning potential. Money is more important than anything. Rolling Eyes More important than your own son, 'cause this was never going to end well, and he is obviously one screwed up dude, raised by screwed up parents who do not give a damn. Otherwise, if nothing else, a reality check was in order - "Uhm, Manti, you have a problem. We love you and are going to get you some help."

This insulation and cover-up by all is what creates monsters out of some star athletes. Nothing is more important than the game.

As Jammer noted... Notre Dame's response and assistance... WTF? Seriously ND?


Luuuc
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PostPosted: 01/16/13 10:27 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

blaase22 wrote:
It's obvious to me this is guy is gay and made the girlfriend up to cover up but had to find a way to come up with why she was never around and didn't think anyone would care to investigate further.

That article in the first post is the first I have heard of this guy, but yeah your theory above was my first thought too.



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Nerd2



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PostPosted: 01/16/13 10:50 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

According to a followup article on ESPN, an Arizona Cardinals FB claims the lady exists, is a cousin of Tuiasosopo and lives in American Samoa: http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8851033/story-manti-teo-girlfriend-death-apparently-hoax

Quote:
Reagan Mauia, an Arizona Cardinals fullback, said he believes Kekua existed because he met her in person when he and other Polynesian teammates and Pittsburgh Steelers star Troy Polamalu went to do charity work in American Samoa in June 2011.


He's not saying that she was involved but rather that this could be where the name was appropriated from.

So many questions. In truth, I'm not sure blaming the media for "parroting" is appropriate. Do we expect them to run background checks of the significant others of all athletes they report on? They were given this story by the athlete and the institution and I think they were just taken at their word.

The more I think about this, I could see how he could have been duped. If the twitter account started out with saying something like "remember me? you gave me a smile at the game" it could have led him to believe he physically met her. Attempts to meet her could have been easily deflected with excuses (car accident, leukemia). I could even see him fibbing to his family about meeting her when pressed rather than admit that he'd fallen for someone that he hadn't actually seen. How often have we heard of people falling for others that they knew only via a chat window?

Why did they choose to reopen the connection, though, after closing it so neatly? And, of course, why do it in the first place?


Nerd2



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PostPosted: 01/16/13 11:02 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

Luuuc wrote:
blaase22 wrote:
It's obvious to me this is guy is gay and made the girlfriend up to cover up but had to find a way to come up with why she was never around and didn't think anyone would care to investigate further.

That article in the first post is the first I have heard of this guy, but yeah your theory above was my first thought too.


It was my first thought as well, but I could also see how he could have chosen to lead people on about meeting her out of embarrassment that he never had.


eclair



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PostPosted: 01/16/13 11:30 pm    ::: Reply Reply with quote

Girlfriend conveniently dies just before parents of a conservative religion and culture plan to travel and meet her?

I don't think the e-beard speculation is out of the question.



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Nerd2



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PostPosted: 01/17/13 12:32 am    ::: Reply Reply with quote

Pat Forde's take: http://sports.yahoo.com/news/ncaaf--manti-teo-girlfriend-hoax-notre-dame-jack-swarbrick-sincere-045713273.html

He pretty clearly lays it all out: the culpability of a non-fact-checking media, the questions that Te'o needs to answer, and points where ND and Deadspin could have fallen short. He is right about one thing though: no one will win here. Even if the truth was that Te'o is naive as hell and they prove it somehow, there will be those that refuse to believe and insist that he was covering up gayness or a publicity stunt for Heisman attention. If it really is one of those things, no one will ever admit it anyway. And with ND admitting that it knew pre-NC and still letting the press continue the myth, their credibility will take a hit regardless.


eclair



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PostPosted: 01/17/13 12:41 am    ::: Reply Reply with quote

pilight wrote:
What does this story say about the state of sports "journalism"? Not one of the many, many reporters who parroted the dead girlfriend story made any effort to find out anything about her.


Right. But why would they?

If the media had prodded and poked and there was nothing? There'd have been a Libertarian hue and cry about media intrusion into people's lives.



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eclair



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PostPosted: 01/17/13 12:49 am    ::: Reply Reply with quote

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKDus7QjJ_w&feature=youtube_gdata_player

"I couldn't have done this without the support of my girlfriend's family."



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