AM UPDATE 11/19 8:02AM: ESPN's Jeremy Schaap talked with Manti Te'o late Friday night. Here's the ESPN interview...
((espn.com/shellysmith))
So, maybe he really was the victim of a "Catfish" hoax after all....
That is the impression one draws after a Friday afternoon report by ESPN's Shelley Smith that claims Ronaiah Tuiasosopo admitted to pulling a hoax on Te'o to a friend at church.
The "unidentified" friend says Tuiasosopo confessed it began as a game and the game took on a life of it's own from there. Not only that, she says Tuiasosopo admitted Te'o was not the 1st person he's pulled the "Prank" on.
And to Shelley Smith's credit, she found 2 people who admitted in 2008, that the same prank was pulled on them. Using a picture of the same person used on Te'o.
Yes, it's kind of complicated.
Read the full story from ESPN.com and Shelley Smith RIGHT HERE
Okay...(deep breath)
So, if this is all true, then what's next?
Honestly, we don't know. As we write this, the Te'o family is trying to mull over a public response or what to do next. Sadly, Manti Te'o's name has become a national joke because of this.
And yet by all indications, he's the VICTIM here. Something we've been arguing for days. (well, okay, me)
Was he incredibly naive for falling for this hook, line and sinker and then enhancing the story? Yes, absolutely. But by all indications, he believed the story. And yet, he's been portrayed by the national media as the bad guy in this.
We've said it before and we'll say it again. Someone needs to help Te'o with his social and life skills. Yes, it's not incredible to think he got suckered and didn't see the forest for the trees. But at what point do you not start questioning some of this? And when do you give up the dream and realize you've been suckered?
Te'o's biggest mistake. Not owning up to this. But how can anyone know what the 21-year old was thinking? Did he panic and feel like he should keep playing out the story? Did he think--"I'm right, this is real--to me and that's all that matters"? Who knows....
((**note**--His other mistake, letting Notre Dame speak for him. While AD Jack Swarbick may have meant well, by speaking out about this, he made it worse.))
Yes, everyone gets lonely. Yes, lonely people are often the most easy marks for a scam such as this. But the person who NEEDS to be prosecuted and persecuted is Tuiasosopo, not Te'o.
But will anyone apologize for this. No. Will anyone admit they shouldn't have mocked Te'o without knowing the whole story? No.
Unless Smith is being totally played here too, we've found the real perpetrator here, and it ain't the guy who's had his name dragged through the mud at the beginning.
Thanks for allowing the embed ESPN, good reporting job here:
PM UPDATE: CBS Sports' Jeremy Fowler has divulged that Te'o told Notre Dame that he tried to Skype with Lennay Kekua- "but she refused..."
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported Friday that Kekua, whom Te'o said had died in September, called Te'o on December 6th to say she faked her death to evade drug dealers. Kekua (in whatever form) tried to start the relationship again, according to Ferd Lewis' report.
From Lewis:
Te'o asked the woman to transmit a photo to him with a date stamp, which she did, but this did not allay his suspicions and he later told his family and Notre Dame officials about being scammed.
The woman whose photo has been identified as Lennay Kekua has been identified, by the Inside Edition television program and others, as 23-year-old Diane O'Meara.
ESPN is also getting the opportunity to interview Te'o off-camera and audio will be available later for details and advancement of the story.
WNDU-TV interviewed Te'o neighbor Ashley Prendergast- who doesn't really know Te'o all that well, but still thinks the star linebacker was duped.
WNDU Video on Demand -
Showing posts with label Ronaiah Tuiasosopo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ronaiah Tuiasosopo. Show all posts
Friday, January 18, 2013
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Te'o Day 2: "A Very Good Actor..." (PM UPDATE with Te'o Family Reax)
((HT: Pepper On Sports))
Jackie Pepper caught up with a teammate of Te'o and it appears, on some flanks, that the story about Lennay Kekua was doubted by some of those who were around him every day...
From Pepper:
The source said while the players discussed their suspicions amongst themselves, they never confronted Te’o.
“We would never bring it up. But we would look at him when he would get all emotional during media about his girl,” the player said.
When asked if he thought Te’o was a good actor, the player replied, “Very good.”
Deadspin's Tim Burke is making the rounds this morning, and rightfully so, about how the site got to devote the resources they did to break the Te'o story. Here's his appearance on the "Dan Patrick Show..."
Pete Thamel also went on the @DPShow and said that Te'o stood up in front of his whole team and talked about Kekua after her death...
Word is leaking out from various sources that it may be Jeremy Schaap that gets the one-on-one... that would be interesting...
More when we know more...
1130 UPDATE: The ESPN interview, according to Bonnie Bernstein and others, has been "scrapped..."
2300 UPDATE: Clay Travis over at Outkick The Coverage has tracked down a radio interview that the uncle of Manti Te'o, Alema, did for a Salt Lake City radio station.
The interview is hyah... and it's over 30 minutes long...
Alema Te'o brings forth the gambit that it's all Ronaiah Tuiasosopo who is in charge of all this puppeteering...
From Travis:
"Ronaiah Tuiasosopo is a liar, he concocted the whole thing, there's no doubt in my mind." Later, he continued, "He lied every step of the way." Furthermore, Alama said, "This isn't the first time he's done this." He continued, "Lie after lie after lie, there's no way in the world this guy can be trusted. Ronaiah, if you're listening to me bud, you're a liar and a dishonest man."
Jackie Pepper caught up with a teammate of Te'o and it appears, on some flanks, that the story about Lennay Kekua was doubted by some of those who were around him every day...
From Pepper:
The source said while the players discussed their suspicions amongst themselves, they never confronted Te’o.
“We would never bring it up. But we would look at him when he would get all emotional during media about his girl,” the player said.
When asked if he thought Te’o was a good actor, the player replied, “Very good.”
Deadspin's Tim Burke is making the rounds this morning, and rightfully so, about how the site got to devote the resources they did to break the Te'o story. Here's his appearance on the "Dan Patrick Show..."
Pete Thamel also went on the @DPShow and said that Te'o stood up in front of his whole team and talked about Kekua after her death...
Word is leaking out from various sources that it may be Jeremy Schaap that gets the one-on-one... that would be interesting...
More when we know more...
1130 UPDATE: The ESPN interview, according to Bonnie Bernstein and others, has been "scrapped..."
2300 UPDATE: Clay Travis over at Outkick The Coverage has tracked down a radio interview that the uncle of Manti Te'o, Alema, did for a Salt Lake City radio station.
The interview is hyah... and it's over 30 minutes long...
Alema Te'o brings forth the gambit that it's all Ronaiah Tuiasosopo who is in charge of all this puppeteering...
From Travis:
"Ronaiah Tuiasosopo is a liar, he concocted the whole thing, there's no doubt in my mind." Later, he continued, "He lied every step of the way." Furthermore, Alama said, "This isn't the first time he's done this." He continued, "Lie after lie after lie, there's no way in the world this guy can be trusted. Ronaiah, if you're listening to me bud, you're a liar and a dishonest man."
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Te'o Story On Girlfriend A Farce...??? Who Is Lying Then And Who Is Lying Now...???
The folks over at Deadspin came up with a staggering read that intimated the story about his girlfriend who died of Leukemia was all made up...
From Burke and Dickey is the end game in all of this:
"There was no Lennay Kekua. Lennay Kekua did not meet Manti Te'o after the Stanford game in 2009. Lennay Kekua did not attend Stanford. Lennay Kekua never visited Manti Te'o in Hawaii. Lennay Kekua was not in a car accident. Lennay Kekua did not talk to Manti Te'o every night on the telephone. She was not diagnosed with cancer, did not spend time in the hospital, did not engage in a lengthy battle with leukemia. She never had a bone marrow transplant. She was not released from the hospital on Sept. 10, nor did Brian Te'o congratulate her for this over the telephone. She did not insist that Manti Te'o play in the Michigan State or Michigan games, and did not request he send white flowers to her funeral. Her favorite color was not white. Her brother, Koa, did not inform Manti Te'o that she was dead. Koa did not exist. Her funeral did not take place in Carson, Calif., and her casket was not closed at 9 a.m. exactly. She was not laid to rest."
And we imagine that Gene Wojciechowski is BEYOND PISSED about right now...
Te'o issued a statement trying to explain the whole thing away:
"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."
Te'o is now saying that the activities that he may or may not have engaged in with Ronaiah Tuiasosopo didn't happen as partners, but that he was duped.
As well as, perhaps, Notre Dame...
((HT: Notre Dame Athletics))
The University of Notre Dame released this statement tonight.
“On Dec. 26, Notre Dame coaches were informed by Manti Te’o 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.”
Angelo Di Carlo, Sports Director at WNDU-TV in South Bend, called the University’s Sports information department and asked:
"Manti has said multiple times he went to bed talking to Lennay on the phone. How did he not know of her existence? I’m confused on that aspect not addressed in this statement."
Notre Dame's response:
"This apparently was a virtual relationship”
So, then he lied about talking to her on the phone in his own statement released this afternoon...???
Which is it, folks...??? Get your multiple stories straight...
Kinda like in this interview with Notre Dame's Kate Sullivan...
Te'o wastes NO TIME discussing Lennay Kukua...
((HT: Notre Dame Athletics))
If what Te'o is saying NOW is true, then what is the first FOUR MINUTES of the above interview...???
And the Eric Hansen article in the South Bend Tribune from October 12th, 2012 is a complete fabrication, then...???
((nb: The Tribune, apparently, has taken the article down, but it still exists hyah...))
The whole Hansen bio piece details the PHYSICAL MEETING between Te'o and Lennay Kukua in 2009 on the Stanford campus...
From Hansen:
"They started out as just friends," Brian Te'o said. "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. But within the last year, they became a couple.
"And we came to the realization that she could be our daughter-in-law. Sadly, it won't happen now."
So then, has Notre Dame been duped...??? Or are they just as complicit in the spin...???
How deep is the family in the story if both Manti and Brian are both cognizant of the physical presence in a woman that did not exist as a physical being...???
We're just getting started...
Hey, remember Lance Armstrong is appearing with Oprah tomorrow...???
2100 UPDATE: We may have an answer...
Notre Dame AD Jack Swarbrick came to the defense of Te'o this evening...
“He became startled, shocked. That was absolutely the first sign,” Swarbrick said. "It goes to my comments about Manti and his character. Every single thing about this until that day in the first week of December was real about this to Manti. There was no suspicion that it wasn’t, no belief that it might not be. The pain was real, the grief was real, the affection was real.”
Here's the transcript of the presser, thanks to WNDU-TV
Wow...
Really...???
Really...
2300 UPDATE: In another interesting twist, Arizona Cardinals fullback Reagan Mauia says that he actually met Kekua before her alleged time with Manti Te'o. It came from a meeting in American Samoa during NFL charity work in 2011- two years after the first alleged meeting between Te'o and Kekua at Stanford in 2009.
"She was tall," he said. "Volleyball-type of physique. She was athletic, tall, beautiful. Long hair. Polynesian. She looked like a model ... "
And he did say that yes, Kekua did exist when he was told that she may be a fake...
From Burke and Dickey is the end game in all of this:
"There was no Lennay Kekua. Lennay Kekua did not meet Manti Te'o after the Stanford game in 2009. Lennay Kekua did not attend Stanford. Lennay Kekua never visited Manti Te'o in Hawaii. Lennay Kekua was not in a car accident. Lennay Kekua did not talk to Manti Te'o every night on the telephone. She was not diagnosed with cancer, did not spend time in the hospital, did not engage in a lengthy battle with leukemia. She never had a bone marrow transplant. She was not released from the hospital on Sept. 10, nor did Brian Te'o congratulate her for this over the telephone. She did not insist that Manti Te'o play in the Michigan State or Michigan games, and did not request he send white flowers to her funeral. Her favorite color was not white. Her brother, Koa, did not inform Manti Te'o that she was dead. Koa did not exist. Her funeral did not take place in Carson, Calif., and her casket was not closed at 9 a.m. exactly. She was not laid to rest."
And we imagine that Gene Wojciechowski is BEYOND PISSED about right now...
Te'o issued a statement trying to explain the whole thing away:
"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."
Te'o is now saying that the activities that he may or may not have engaged in with Ronaiah Tuiasosopo didn't happen as partners, but that he was duped.
As well as, perhaps, Notre Dame...
((HT: Notre Dame Athletics))
The University of Notre Dame released this statement tonight.
“On Dec. 26, Notre Dame coaches were informed by Manti Te’o 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.”
Angelo Di Carlo, Sports Director at WNDU-TV in South Bend, called the University’s Sports information department and asked:
"Manti has said multiple times he went to bed talking to Lennay on the phone. How did he not know of her existence? I’m confused on that aspect not addressed in this statement."
Notre Dame's response:
"This apparently was a virtual relationship”
So, then he lied about talking to her on the phone in his own statement released this afternoon...???
Which is it, folks...??? Get your multiple stories straight...
Kinda like in this interview with Notre Dame's Kate Sullivan...
Te'o wastes NO TIME discussing Lennay Kukua...
((HT: Notre Dame Athletics))
If what Te'o is saying NOW is true, then what is the first FOUR MINUTES of the above interview...???
And the Eric Hansen article in the South Bend Tribune from October 12th, 2012 is a complete fabrication, then...???
((nb: The Tribune, apparently, has taken the article down, but it still exists hyah...))
The whole Hansen bio piece details the PHYSICAL MEETING between Te'o and Lennay Kukua in 2009 on the Stanford campus...
From Hansen:
"They started out as just friends," Brian Te'o said. "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. But within the last year, they became a couple.
"And we came to the realization that she could be our daughter-in-law. Sadly, it won't happen now."
So then, has Notre Dame been duped...??? Or are they just as complicit in the spin...???
How deep is the family in the story if both Manti and Brian are both cognizant of the physical presence in a woman that did not exist as a physical being...???
We're just getting started...
Hey, remember Lance Armstrong is appearing with Oprah tomorrow...???
2100 UPDATE: We may have an answer...
Notre Dame AD Jack Swarbrick came to the defense of Te'o this evening...
“He became startled, shocked. That was absolutely the first sign,” Swarbrick said. "It goes to my comments about Manti and his character. Every single thing about this until that day in the first week of December was real about this to Manti. There was no suspicion that it wasn’t, no belief that it might not be. The pain was real, the grief was real, the affection was real.”
Here's the transcript of the presser, thanks to WNDU-TV
Wow...
Really...???
Really...
2300 UPDATE: In another interesting twist, Arizona Cardinals fullback Reagan Mauia says that he actually met Kekua before her alleged time with Manti Te'o. It came from a meeting in American Samoa during NFL charity work in 2011- two years after the first alleged meeting between Te'o and Kekua at Stanford in 2009.
"She was tall," he said. "Volleyball-type of physique. She was athletic, tall, beautiful. Long hair. Polynesian. She looked like a model ... "
And he did say that yes, Kekua did exist when he was told that she may be a fake...
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