Manti Te'o hoax (wth?!?)

**festivus** · 01-17-2013, 12:48 PM

I'm finding this fascinating.

Bmorecareful has covered everything I would say, I think, except I differ with him (and HR) on this point:

I'm not really interested in a money trail. I don't know what urge might have led to the deception at work here, but (a) I think, as bmorecareful and others have said, currently the needle is pointing to "He Was In On It," and (b) it may not have been for money. It may have begun as a small story, like chef Robert Irvine's embellished resume, for some reason as simple as wanting to appear to have a girlfriend for some small reason (machismo, or whatever).

And then, in Chef Irvine's case, they started putting his bloated resume material on tv, or in Te'o's case Sports Illustrated started asking about the fake girlfriend, and soon the lies and shenanigans spun out of control.

Robert Irvine resurrected his career without ever really confronting the fact that he was a big fat liar. I imagine Te'o will, too.

**mjones73** · 01-17-2013, 12:49 PM

This story keeps getting stranger.. Not sure if it was noted in the thread but we have an NFL player stating he's met the supposed "girlfriend"

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/01/...d-she-is-real/

Reagan Mauia, who played in two games for the Arizona Cardinals last season, said he met Lennay Kekua in person during an outreach trip with Troy Polamalu of the Pittsburgh Steelers and others in June 2011.

And her Twitter account has come back to life claiming the truth will come out at noon PST today.

Then later Wednesday night came a tweet from @LennayKay -- a Twitter handle that once was associated with Kekua.

"It isn't fair to drag Reagan and Troy into this.. a lot of truths and myths need to be addressed here, and they will be at noon PST tomorrow," the tweet said.

The other two tweets on the page were retweets from the verified account of Te'o.

"@LennayKay I miss you!" said a November 6 tweet from Te'o's said.

On September 12, Te'o tweeted "@LennayKay you will always be with me wherever I go!"

**JAB1985** · 01-17-2013, 12:57 PM

Originally Posted by mjones73

This story keeps getting stranger.. Not sure if it was noted in the thread but we have an NFL player stating he's met the supposed "girlfriend"

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/01/...d-she-is-real/

Reagan Mauia, who played in two games for the Arizona Cardinals last season, said he met Lennay Kekua in person during an outreach trip with Troy Polamalu of the Pittsburgh Steelers and others in June 2011.

And her Twitter account has come back to life claiming the truth will come out at noon PST today.

Then later Wednesday night came a tweet from @LennayKay -- a Twitter handle that once was associated with Kekua.

"It isn't fair to drag Reagan and Troy into this.. a lot of truths and myths need to be addressed here, and they will be at noon PST tomorrow," the tweet said.

The other two tweets on the page were retweets from the verified account of Te'o.

"@LennayKay I miss you!" said a November 6 tweet from Te'o's said.

On September 12, Te'o tweeted "@LennayKay you will always be with me wherever I go!"

so wait, now shes real? I thought the Hoax part was that she never existed to begin with (pictures were of some other girl that never met him). How are people meeting a non-existent person?

**mjones73** · 01-17-2013, 01:02 PM

Originally Posted by JAB1985

so wait, now shes real? I thought the Hoax part was that she never existed to begin with (pictures were of some other girl that never met him). How are people meeting a non-existent person?

I have no idea, just pointing out this keeps getting stranger. I guess we'll see what news comes out in an hour or so.

Looking at the twitter account mentioned, 2 hours ago this was posted - "I will be releasing a statement via twitter, between 11am and noon today"

**lovefootball** · 01-17-2013, 01:04 PM

Haven't read this post at all, but I wonder if one of these two thoughts might be true. One,Te'o is gay and used this gimmick to cover him and win over others. Two, he saw the scene in Animal House where they go to a sorority house after reading the girl had died in the obituarie, knowing other girls would go out with them to help the guys over come the news.
This story is crazy and if it is fraud, what can the authorities do about it. Hell, the bengals or pats will draft this guy, they have a habit of bringing players on their teams that have bad images. Te'o is sure getting a lot of headlines this week, isn't some teams playing for division titles this week?

**NCRAVEN** · 01-17-2013, 01:12 PM

Originally Posted by mjones73

I have no idea, just pointing out this keeps getting stranger. I guess we'll see what news comes out in an hour or so.

Looking at the twitter account mentioned, 2 hours ago this was posted - "I will be releasing a statement via twitter, between 11am and noon today"

Yeah, I'd like to get some answers on this....

**jonboy79** · 01-17-2013, 01:26 PM

The cardinal player met Lennay in Samoa. Could have been an entirely differnt person. Though it is strange that she matches almost exactly the age/ethnicity etc of the "hoax" girl.

**mjones73** · 01-17-2013, 01:33 PM

Ha

@LennayKay - My statement: This is incredibly embarrassing to talk about, but I have been told by Alabama's offense that Manti Te'o is not real.

**HoustonRaven** · 01-17-2013, 01:36 PM

Originally Posted by festivus

And then, in Chef Irvine's case, they started putting his bloated resume material on tv, or in Te'o's case Sports Illustrated started asking about the fake girlfriend, and soon the lies and shenanigans spun out of control.

Deadspin, not SI.

Originally Posted by festivus

Robert Irvine resurrected his career without ever really confronting the fact that he was a big fat liar. I imagine Te'o will, too.

Not if he's facing fraud charges, which is why I think the money matters. The conclusion to the money angle will decide if he's the victim or will be in a courtroom come draft time.

**Dade** · 01-17-2013, 01:37 PM

Originally Posted by mjones73

Ha

@LennayKay - My statement: This is incredibly embarrassing to talk about, but I have been told by Alabama's offense that Manti Te'o is not real.

Good one.

**mjones73** · 01-17-2013, 01:39 PM

Originally Posted by Dade

Good one.

Somebody is trolling somebody here...

**Paintballguy** · 01-17-2013, 02:14 PM

@SportsCenter: NEW DEVELOPMENT - Former ND teammate tells ESPN's Bob Holtzman that many players knew Lennay Kekua wasn't really Manti Te'o's girlfriend.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

**NCRAVEN** · 01-17-2013, 02:18 PM

Originally Posted by Paintballguy

@SportsCenter: NEW DEVELOPMENT - Former ND teammate tells ESPN's Bob Holtzman that many players knew Lennay Kekua wasn't really Manti Te'o's girlfriend.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This is getting stranger and stranger. Why would someone wait till now to blow the whistle?

**jonboy79** · 01-17-2013, 02:23 PM

Originally Posted by NCRAVEN

This is getting stranger and stranger. Why would someone wait till now to blow the whistle?

Why would a teammate blow the whistle before the end of the season? Could only hurt the team before the Nat'l championship game. It was certainly a big part of Te'o's Hesiman chances, which in turn is a big part of why they were included in the Nat'l championship.

**mjones73** · 01-17-2013, 02:24 PM

Twitter account has been debunked, it was re-created this week. Either someone who was involved picked it up again or we have someone just using it to poke fun at the story...

**Ravenous1** · 01-17-2013, 02:25 PM

Originally Posted by bmorecareful

First of all, it isn't "established" that Te'o deceived his family. But even if it were, so Te'o deceived EVERYONE around him--friends, family, teammates, MEMBERS OF THE MEDIA, etc. and yet you can't accept that it's not a bridge too far to believe he did it wilfully, instead of just out of embarassment?

A practiced and skillful deceiver like Te'o is not prone to be so easily deceived by others. So you mean to tell me that all the times Manti told his family he was meeting her in Hawaii, only for her not to show up, he never got concerned, nor did his family? All the times he interacted with her family (people obviously of varying ages, backgrounds, and personalities) he never noticed anything weird about their interactions? He never found it strange that even though she claimed (AND HE TOLD OTHERS) that she was in the hospital, no nurses ever came to check her blood pressure?

I mean, there are just STAGGERING leaps of faith you need to make to believe that Te'o was just merrily trotting along, being tricked by a MASSIVE web of lies and MASSIVE cast of characters, while ALL THE WHILE HE HIMSELF WAS MASTERFULLY MANIPULATING HIS ENTIRE WORLD TO ACCOUNT FOR HIS SHAME OVER AN ONLINE GIRLFRIEND.

So after you get through believing all of that I have a great tract of oceanfront territory in Nevada I'd love to sell to you.

First of all, the dissimilarities between Ray Lewis and Manti Te'o are too numerous to name--chiefly that we actually had access to the facts revealed by the investigation in Atlanta BECAUSE IT WAS SUBJECT TO SCRUTINY IN A PUBLIC COURT OF LAW. Te'o is, to this point, not.

Ah, and there's the rub. I guess you're a Notre Dame fan, then? I'm not a hater of that institution, but I am hesitant to accept their word at face value--especially after we saw another similar institution like PSU lie through their teeth to protect themselves and their stakeholders. I might be cynical, but not particularly so for ND.

WOW. A practiced and skillful deceiver???? I like how you have decided what this kid is without so much as ever having talked to him or without access to information that is surely at this point not public. Worst case scenario Manti is guilty of lying in all likelihood in order to save himself the embarrassment of admitting he was had. That is more about pride than deceit. Their is ZERO evidence other than your supposed ability to identify those who are deceitful to support the idea he was in on this from the get go. Sorry think I think that is just a little self righteous and statements like that reek of having a bone to grind with the kid or ND. I personally hate ND, I think the kid is guilty of poor judgement and likely lying to try and save himself embarrassment. Let me guess since your such a moral and upstanding person you have NEVER lied to protect your ego, protect yourself from embarrassment etc.... of course not.

What does ND have to gain by protecting Teo? If anything they have more to lose by lying to protect him. Teo is not accused of molesting children, in fact there is nothing even remotely criminal about any of this at this point. Comparing the two situations even if in passing is tantamount to exploitation in order to further your agenda and is disrespectful to both Teo and frankly to the poor kids who REALLY WERE VICTIMS.

**NCRAVEN** · 01-17-2013, 02:27 PM

Originally Posted by jonboy79

Why would a teammate blow the whistle before the end of the season? Could only hurt the team before the Nat'l championship game. It was certainly a big part of Te'o's Hesiman chances, which in turn is a big part of why they were included in the Nat'l championship.

IT was a former player, per the ESPN tweet, not a current player.

**jonboy79** · 01-17-2013, 02:31 PM

Originally Posted by Ravenous1

WOW. A practiced and skillful deceiver???? I like how you have decided what this kid is without so much as ever having talked to him or without access to information that is surely at this point not public. Worst case scenario Manti is guilty of lying in all likelihood in order to save himself the embarrassment of admitting he was had. That is more about pride than deceit. Their is ZERO evidence other than your supposed ability to identify those who are deceitful to support the idea he was in on this from the get go. Sorry think I think that is just a little self righteous and statements like that reek of having a bone to grind with the kid or ND. I personally hate ND, I think the kid is guilty of poor judgement and likely lying to try and save himself embarrassment. Let me guess since your such a moral and upstanding person you have NEVER lied to protect your ego, protect yourself from embarrassment etc.... of course not.

What does ND have to gain by protecting Teo? If anything they have more to lose by lying to protect him. Teo is not accused of molesting children, in fact there is nothing even remotely criminal about any of this at this point. Comparing the two situations even if in passing is tantamount to exploitation in order to further your agenda and is disrespectful to both Teo and frankly to the poor kids who REALLY WERE VICTIMS.

I don't see an issue with those words you bolded. At the VERY LEAST, if you take Te'o at his word(hard to do considering where I'm going) then for the better part of 3 years he lied to his friends, family members, teammates, and the national media on several occasions.
ON TV they've been showing interviews where he describes looking into her eyes, saying she was the most beautiful person he'd ever met, etc. Quotes from his parents talking about her visiting hawaii... He obviously never was in the same place at the same time as this "girl" and ye there are plenty of quotes to oppose that.

He is certainly a practiced and skillful deceiver. Even if he were duped on some level and not completely behind the whole thing, he was deceitful to many, many people.

**NCRAVEN** · 01-17-2013, 02:34 PM

Originally Posted by jonboy79

I don't see an issue with those words you bolded. At the VERY LEAST, if you take Te'o at his word(hard to do considering where I'm going) then for the better part of 3 years he lied to his friends, family members, teammates, and the national media on several occasions.
ON TV they've been showing interviews where he describes looking into her eyes, saying she was the most beautiful person he'd ever met, etc. Quotes from his parents talking about her visiting hawaii... He obviously never was in the same place at the same time as this "girl" and ye there are plenty of quotes to oppose that.

He is certainly a practiced and skillful deceiver. Even if he were duped on some level and not completely behind the whole thing, he was deceitful to many, many people.

Jonboy. don't you think before you pass that judgement you should hear an explanation?

I ask because, he told the ND AD the "we met" and the ND Ad said "wait what do you mean we met" T'eo said "yeah, we met online" (that is the Ad's account anyway).

When he says he starred into her eyes, is it possible he meant the pictures he had over her?

**jonboy79** · 01-17-2013, 02:36 PM

Originally Posted by NCRAVEN

IT was a former player, per the ESPN tweet, not a current player.

you are right, misread that in my quickness... subtle be important distinction there.

I freely admit I'm quick to rush to judgement with what I'm about to say, but I think my first reaction is correct. I think Te'o is gay, and this story was a cover-up. I think he was afraid to tell the truth to eiter his teammates or his parents. If I were a reporter I would NOT report anything to this effect, but it's jsut a hunch I have. It certainly is an explanation that is feasible and would solve many of the problems we are discussing. IUt would explainthe extent he went to keep this going, etc. It would be irresponsible to suggest this if I were not some anonymous shmuck on a very unrelated web forum.