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Deadspin: (Notre Dame football player) Manti Te’o’s Dead Girlfriend is a hoax

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Not a matter of waiving them off, to be honest. I expect one from ND, one from Te'o, and one from his family, if not one from the friend too. Whether anything comes of it is a other matter entirely.

I like some of Gawkers sites and all, but I don't think so. On this one? I'm betting they did, but they aren't always the most prudent when it comes to fact checking and such.

Again, not discounting their article or the work they did, but I'd put them in the realm of the Philadelphia Daily News than the Inquirer, if that makes sense.
Gawker sucks as an entity. I hate Denton and think he's a sleazebag. All I'm saying is that, as a competently run, money making enterprise, they aren't going to publish something that opens them up to a libel suit.

I should note that I went to Journalism school and have worked as a reporter, so I'm familiar with media law.

I don't see anything in that story that would be worth a lawsuit. It doesn't matter if something defamatory is implied, which this story barely does - not to mention attributing it to a third party via a quote. You need to prove actual malice - not meaning intent to harm (because that's impossible to prove) but working knowledge that the facts were wrong or that it was published with absolute disregard for the truth. It's not enough to show that a story caused harm - if it's true then it's fair game.
 
Defamation of character that could cost Te'o millions in the upcoming NFL draft. Plenty of lawyers will leap at the chance.

Deadspin is fine. Re-reading the article, I can't see anything that stands out as dangerous for them. They were pretty careful in their wording. Talon's post above is dead-on.
 
There's actually no possible way he falls past the Steelers #17 pick. Take that to the bank.

You're suggesting that the Steelers should take Te'o?

xAGWg.gif
 
So he was in it?, at best not started it but continued it.

I love how you are trying to pacify straight up lies as "white"

I'm referring to him telling his Dad that he had met his online-only friend, who then became his online-only girlfriend.

Call them lies.. I'm using "white" because relative to inventing the person himself they are.. white lies.

People meet online all the time, and then tell others it started with a face-to-face meeting.. it's really common.. it's a lie, all lies are lies.. but most would categorize that as a white lie.

It's also entirely possible he made the entire thing up.. this was a fake girlfriend from the start, etc. I'm merely saying the evidence doesn't draw 1 conclusion just yet.. because someone easily duped would also likely appear fairly dishonest.. people who are duped are lying to themselves in order to be duped in the first place.
 
I'm referring to him telling his Dad that he had met his online-only friend, who then became his online-only girlfriend.

Call them lies.. I'm using "white" because relative to inventing the person himself they are.. white lies.

People meet online all the time, and then tell others it started with a face-to-face meeting.. it's really common.. it's a lie, all lies are lies.. but most would categorize that as a white lie.

Racist
 
If he really thought his girlfriend was dead that must've been one hell of a phone call when the person pretending to be her called him back.
 
The plot thickens even further, turns out she also had a fake sister!

After Lennay's supposed death, Jan became involved with a group called "Wear a Lei 4 Manti" -- in which fans wore Hawaiian leis to ND football games to show their support for the football star.

When the "Wear a Lei 4 Manti" movement began to receive media attention, Jan says she noticed she gained a Twitter follower named U'ilani Rae Kekua.

Jan tells TMZ ... she reached out to U'ilani and asked if she was related to Lennay -- to which U'ilani replied, "Yes, that's my baby sister." The two became friends.

...

Clearly, the woman in the photo is not U'ilani ('cause she doesn't really exist) ... and some digging suggests the woman in the photo is actually a woman named Donna Tei, who doesn't seem to have a relationship with anyone involved in the hoax.

There's more ... Jan tells TMZ Lennay's "sister" continued to reach out to her after the USC game ... and delivered some more bad news -- that little Pookah had been diagnosed with lupus and was dying in a children's hospital in Orange County, CA.
He should've known it's a hoax, it's never lupus!

More at the link -
http://www.tmz.com/2013/01/17/manti-teo-ronaiah-tuiasosopo-scandal-hoax-notre-dame-photo-girlfriend/
 
I don't know if this has been posted but lol

Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
17 Jan 13
Congratulations to Tom Scocca and Timothy Burke of @Deadspin for exposing the Manti Te’o fiasco.
Deadspin
@Deadspin
@realDonaldTrump Go fuck yourself.
 
If he really thought his girlfriend was dead that must've been one hell of a phone call when the person pretending to be her called him back.

Subconsciously he could have known he was being hoaxed.. and consciously suspected it.

The hoaxer dying on him provided a convenient "out" for his psyche to handle.

They also provided him other "outs".. telling him to make sure he didn't go to her funeral, if he had a game on that day.. then conveniently of course she died and her sister showed up, and the fake funeral was on a game day.

The hoaxed mind isn't a healthy one.. so if he did get hoaxed, you have to assume he was subconsciously at the very least complicit with the hoax in some ways.

IMO

Again, partly devil's advocate.. but it's explainable. If he WAS in fact hoaxed by this person, he's a very naive and not entirely mentally healthy person.
 
So he was in it?, at best not started it but continued it.

I love how you are trying to pacify straight up lies as "white"

He's not saying that Te'o lied by perpetuating the hoax, he is saying that Te'o lied about only having met his girlfriend online because people would probably think less of him if they knew he had an online only girlfriend. Supposedly at that point he could still believe she was real but still lie about how deep their relationship was out of embarrassment.

edit: nvm already addressed.
 
For the 15th time, that's not her account. Her account is @iluvaluvasomethingorrather per the Deadspin article.

From the article:


"Lennay Kekua's Twitter name was @lovalovaloveYOU from 2011 until April 2012, @LennayKay from April until September 2012, and has been @LoveMSMK ever since. Their interactions, by and large, consisted of mild flirting. By January 2012, they were a "couple," and Te'o sprinkled #LMK (for Lennay Marie Kekua) throughout his Twitter timeline in 2012."
 
HOW TWITTER WORKS (A primer):

You can change your handle at any time to one that is not being used.

When you change your handle, you retain ownership of your old handle for a period of time (I believe about 15 days). After that period of time ends, it returns to the pool of available twitter handles.

The persons involved in this hoax deleted their twitter account a month ago. Thus, that handle returned back to the pool of available handles and someone snatched it up when all this broke to get some free publicity.
 
http://burnstyler.wordpress.com/201...o-sent-to-lovalovaloveyou-lennaykay-lovemsmk/

She changed her name to "@lovemsmk" in September of 2012.

I'm sure some troll snatched up @lennaykay.

HOW TWITTER WORKS (A primer):

You can change your handle at any time to one that is not being used.

When you change your handle, you retain ownership of your old handle for a period of time (I believe about 15 days). After that period of time ends, it returns to the pool of available twitter handles.

The persons involved in this hoax deleted their twitter account a month ago. Thus, that handle returned back to the pool of available handles and someone snatched it up when all this broke to get some free publicity.

Ah, OK.

That makes sense.

Going to be funny either way if the media got duped... again.. lol
 
My issue is that the amount of naiveté I'm being asked to swallow is incredible.

I can't get past why he never visited her, and didn't go to the funeral. I mean, he's on ESPN giving these solemn interviews about how beautiful she is and how he loves her, but he never showed her the support of being by her side? That doesn't add up.
 
My issue is that the amount of naiveté I'm being asked to swallow is incredible.

I can't get past why he never visited her, and didn't go to the funeral. I mean, he's on ESPN giving these solemn interviews about how beautiful she is and how he loves her, but he never showed her the support of being by her side? That doesn't add up.

She was beautiful on the inside!

I have a hard time believing anyone would be so dedicated with to a hoax that they would talk to him on the phone for hours and sleep with the phone on next to them EVERY NIGHT for weeks on end. There's an interview with Te'o where he repeatedly says "every night, every night" about their phone conversations.
 
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