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Deadspin: (Notre Dame football player) Manti Teos Dead Girlfriend is a hoax
- Thread starter Cloudy
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You forget that if he plays his cards right he can get his own Bachelor/Flavor of Love type reality show.
Best part about that plan is they don't even need to pay for any of the invisible contestants
what the fuck
So right when I landed, I was expecting to get a voicemail saying she's gone. So I landed and I had a voicemail from her brother saying, "Brother, call me back right now." So you can imagine what's going through my head. I was like, "What am I going to do? How am I going to take this?'"And so I called him back, the doctor came in and he saw something and he wants to try some treatment on her to see if it works. From there she slowly started to get better. Slowly. Eventually she came out of her coma and she started having memory problems and she couldn't remember because of the accident. That's how much damage she had to her frontal lobe. She had memory problems. I was actually the first person that she talked to. She was breathing, breathing. When I talked to her, I would say, "Babe, do you know who this is?" I knew she knew who it was because her breathing would pick up. I was like, "Relax, chill. Breathe slowly. Breathe slowly." And then, that was when she first started to speak was that conversation. I was like, "Babe, I love you. I love you." Very slightly she said, "I love you."
So right when I landed, I was expecting to get a voicemail saying she's gone. So I landed and I had a voicemail from her brother saying, "Brother, call me back right now." So you can imagine what's going through my head. I was like, "What am I going to do? How am I going to take this?'"And so I called him back, the doctor came in and he saw something and he wants to try some treatment on her to see if it works. From there she slowly started to get better. Slowly. Eventually she came out of her coma and she started having memory problems and she couldn't remember because of the accident. That's how much damage she had to her frontal lobe. She had memory problems. I was actually the first person that she talked to. She was breathing, breathing. When I talked to her, I would say, "Babe, do you know who this is?" I knew she knew who it was because her breathing would pick up. I was like, "Relax, chill. Breathe slowly. Breathe slowly." And then, that was when she first started to speak was that conversation. I was like, "Babe, I love you. I love you." Very slightly she said, "I love you."
Making up an entire family of hers he claimed he talked to multiple times a day, making up doctors he claimed to talk to when she was in a coma, making up fake 8-10 hour long phone calls including ones of just her breathing and hospital noises when she was in her coma stretches far beyond exaggerations. Hell pathological liar isn't harsh enough.
Yeah. also he says 4 years? no way hes a victim
So our options seem to be:
- Te'o was in on it from the start. He and a friend concoct a fake girlfriend, then get caught up in the hilarity of escalating her drama. A car wreck! Cancer! A coma! A surprise recovery! His grandma dies, and they decide to kill off the girlfriend at the same time. Why he did this is largely irrelevant, but the gay theory gains traction largely because it makes him more sympathetic than the jerkass angle.
- Te'o is initially duped, but is on to the hoax sometime in early 2012. To save face with his family and friends, he eventually decides the thing to do would be work with the hoaxer to off Lennay. This makes all of the 8 hour stuff just straight up BS, the hospital phone calls blatant lies, and the story winds up as dramatic as it does in part because he's playing to reporters.
- Te'o is duped for the long haul. Multiple people stage a multi-year campaign to invent his fake girlfriend, stepping it up in 2012 with lengthy phonecalls, a hospital soundboard app, and a whole array of actors pretending to be family. Te'o tells his family he's seeing the girl because he's so gosh-darned embarassed about the online relationship. He's fully suckered in until the girl involved in the hoax calls him up in early December and is all 'hey, I'm not dead'.
The first one makes him a jerk, the second one makes him an opportunist, and for the third one to work he'd have to be the dumbest motherfucker of ALL TIME.
I'm trying to figure out how the MSMK picture fits into the timeline--the girl actually in the photo says she took it in December 2012, which would be months after Lennay died and at best a week before she supposedly returned to life on a call to Te'o. Is that supposed to be the hoaxer gearing up for round 2? ("No, I'm a real girl! Here's a picture as proof!")
- Te'o was in on it from the start. He and a friend concoct a fake girlfriend, then get caught up in the hilarity of escalating her drama. A car wreck! Cancer! A coma! A surprise recovery! His grandma dies, and they decide to kill off the girlfriend at the same time. Why he did this is largely irrelevant, but the gay theory gains traction largely because it makes him more sympathetic than the jerkass angle.
- Te'o is initially duped, but is on to the hoax sometime in early 2012. To save face with his family and friends, he eventually decides the thing to do would be work with the hoaxer to off Lennay. This makes all of the 8 hour stuff just straight up BS, the hospital phone calls blatant lies, and the story winds up as dramatic as it does in part because he's playing to reporters.
- Te'o is duped for the long haul. Multiple people stage a multi-year campaign to invent his fake girlfriend, stepping it up in 2012 with lengthy phonecalls, a hospital soundboard app, and a whole array of actors pretending to be family. Te'o tells his family he's seeing the girl because he's so gosh-darned embarassed about the online relationship. He's fully suckered in until the girl involved in the hoax calls him up in early December and is all 'hey, I'm not dead'.
The first one makes him a jerk, the second one makes him an opportunist, and for the third one to work he'd have to be the dumbest motherfucker of ALL TIME.
I'm trying to figure out how the MSMK picture fits into the timeline--the girl actually in the photo says she took it in December 2012, which would be months after Lennay died and at best a week before she supposedly returned to life on a call to Te'o. Is that supposed to be the hoaxer gearing up for round 2? ("No, I'm a real girl! Here's a picture as proof!")
HerbertFish
Member
SI: How long were you dating? I know that can be a complicated question.
TE'O: Oct. 15 was the official date. Of last year. I've known her for four years. So we've been friends.
SI: So you dated for about a year.
TE'O: Yeah.
* * *
SI: Where did you meet her in California?
TE'O: She actually came to one of the games. She saw me at one of the games.
SI: October 15, I assume is USC?
TE'O: That was in November. But she saw me at the USC game of my sophomore year. We were still just friends, we were acquaintances.
------
This is amazing. He is contradicting himself in the same interview. Guess the Oct 15th date doesn't matter, but still
TE'O: Oct. 15 was the official date. Of last year. I've known her for four years. So we've been friends.
SI: So you dated for about a year.
TE'O: Yeah.
* * *
SI: Where did you meet her in California?
TE'O: She actually came to one of the games. She saw me at one of the games.
SI: October 15, I assume is USC?
TE'O: That was in November. But she saw me at the USC game of my sophomore year. We were still just friends, we were acquaintances.
------
This is amazing. He is contradicting himself in the same interview. Guess the Oct 15th date doesn't matter, but still
Yeah, I imagine he will weasel out of this by claiming some kind of psychological disorder. And to be fair, it does seem like there is something very wrong with him.
I believe that Te'O is psychologically disturbed way more than I ever believe Tiger Woods had a sexual addiction.
Is Pseudologia fantastica (pathological lying) an officially recognized disorder in the DSM?
I believe that Te'O is psychologically disturbed way more than I ever believe Tiger Woods had a sexual addiction.
Is Pseudologia fantastica (pathological lying) an officially recognized disorder in the DSM?
No kidding. Worked for Tebow and he was at Florida when half the team was banging Urban's daughters.
There is another option: Duped the whole time but still lied to reporters.
nVidiot_Whore
Banned
The person could have hoaxed him for a much shorter time period.. but he embellished it into something else.
I think everything is pointing to him being the hoaxer.. BUT.. the reason it's still a small possibility that part of this was hm being hoaxed:
- People do in fact get tricked into thinking someone online is their girlfriend
- People involved in online relationships, real or fake, often lie to hide that they only know the person online, because people are judgmental
- Often these hoaxers do in fact make up stories of illnesses.. it's a common aspect of why people seek such attention.. and it's also a common "out" people use to end fake relationships
So it could have been a SMALL HOAX.. that he then embellished GREATLY.. making people to believe it's some binary situation that:
- He was either victim of the most elaborate hoax in history
- Or he made it all up, and it's all just lies
The third option is still on the table
- He was the victim of a not that elaborate or uncommon hoax
- He embellished everything making it seem much bigger than it was.
IMO
Leaning towards him making it all up though.. and either way, he's a pathological liar.. because really the "He's a victim of a huge elaborate hoax" is practically off the table at this point.
Plinko
Wildcard berths that can't beat teams without a winning record should have homefield advantage
It's not. He's a liar.
NYCmetsfan
Banned
Don't think so.
timetokill
Banned
You forgot the part where, apparently after being called by his suddenly not-dead-of-cancer girlfriend, he tries to START THE RELATIONSHIP UP AGAIN.
Which yeah, does add to the "dumbest motherfucker of all time," award. Notre Dame always has prided itself on the intelligence of its athletes, though.
AND keeps up the charade for awards season and the national championship.
Heart Attack
Member
This dude is a hoax. For what reason's i couldn't care less. Seems like he just portrayed the "perfect" man role, and people just bought that shit. Society is obsessed with perfection, and that's the greater issue here.
Also, the third one would require an amount of time investment from the hoaxer(s) that would require not doing anything but hoax for whole days at a time. What was the payoff? Te'o goes to NFL, they get married without ever really meeting and the hoaxer gets half the money? No hoaxer is that dedicated.
I did a Google search to see if pathological lying was a recognized disorder (it's not).
Hilariously enough though, one search result was an article about pathological lying, written by the LiveStrong Foundation
Hilariously enough though, one search result was an article about pathological lying, written by the LiveStrong Foundation
That does not make much sense to me. You're saying he believed the girl was real but completely fabricated the accident/death? What would he think would happen when his parents eventually met this girl. "We're so glad you pulled through from your accident." "What are you talking about?"
I kind of go back and forth on whether that would even be possible--essentially if he believed this girl existed and died, wouldn't he be worried that her family would sell The Truth to tabloids if he kept making up ridiculous bullshit like extremely lengthy phonecalls while the girl was hospitalized?
I guess it works if you go with the dumb motherfucker angle, but.
its in california, so you have millions of people trying to get acting jobs. they couldve been lied to and paid for something totally different
What does someone they they are getting paid for to talk for 8-10 hours a night every night to some college kid football player and then fake having a coma and just breathe into a phone for 8-10 hours a day?
nVidiot_Whore
Banned
No. I'm saying the details.. the 4 years of knowing her.. the 8 hour phone calls.. the talking to her family a lot.. the being the first to speak to her after a coma, etc.
That would be the embellishment.
All of that dramatic stuff happened over a short period, not 4 years.. so the online fake person could have pulled that drama off.. all online.. and then once he got media exposure he embellished everything.
People who get so easily hoaxed also wouldn't be very mentally healthy themselves.. and would likely be subconsciously aware of the hoax.. hence all the extreme embellishing.. in the back of his mind he knew she wasn't real so the embellishing alone wouldn't be second guessed by her family.
It's a stretch at this point.. not saying it isn't.. more likely he just outright made up a fake girlfriend and all of the illness BS for attention. But it's possible there was a hoax there too.. in either case he wouldn't be an entirely mentally healthy person.
What I find really mind blowing is that this lie lasted as long as it did. What the fuck was the press doing? Nobody bothered to do any fact-checking? Nobody bothered to maybe call the fictitious girlfriend's family for a comment?
At worst there are some people in the press complicit in this coverup, and at best there are some people who chose to remain willfully ignorant and look the other way when none of the facts added up. Even the line of questioning in the Sports Illustrated interview makes it seem as though the interview himself is somewhat skeptical.
At worst there are some people in the press complicit in this coverup, and at best there are some people who chose to remain willfully ignorant and look the other way when none of the facts added up. Even the line of questioning in the Sports Illustrated interview makes it seem as though the interview himself is somewhat skeptical.
This whole thing is just fucking weird. What about his father and best friend talking to "her" and "her family" too? I mean, what in the flaming fuck. I don't think we have nearly enough information to make an accurate assessment of what actually happened. The dude is going to have to come 100% clean before he can get drafted.
Indeed. You would think no one being able to find a single obituary about her or any record of her ever being at Stanford would be enough to set off alarms in at least a single journalist.
LyleLanley
Banned
I'm sure he'll come clean when he talks to teams but him coming clean to the public probably won't have much effect on his draft stock.
faceless007
Member
Has anyone photoshopped his face on the poster for "The Game" yet?
The crazy thing is that Manti just might be stupid enough to actually be tricked. Even this seemingly damming piece of testimony... She saw me. Doesn't necessarily mean they met. Maybe they planned on meeting, she made up an excuse after the game was over and then he was with the team and back on a plane.
I mean is the guy really smart enough to watch himself that carefully during months of interviews to create an emergency backstory in the event of a disaster like this? An extraordinarily shitty backstory at that, where he looks like a total loser no matter what happens?!
NYCmetsfan
Banned
His chances at endorsement deals and promotions are gone, that is a ton of money. He is a national laughing stock and will be remembered in the long run as the weird football player who made up a fake sick girlfriend.
timetokill
Banned
New article on Deadspin: Report: Some At Notre Dame Wanted To Announce The Manti Teo Hoax Last Week
Yeah, sure, that's a possibility. Was actually tricked but serially lied to reporters and his family to make himself look like he was the best boyfriend ever.
Thing is, I'm not sure he comes out looking much better in that scenario. In some ways it's worse, since he would be lying about his intimacy what he believed to be a real dead girl in order to profit from the publicity.
The SportsIllustrated article with the lengthy old interview actually gives a pretty clear idea of what the press was doing--fact checking, not finding anything, and always giving the grieving guy the benefit of the doubt. Another article mentions that Te'o shut down reporter attempts to contact the family because they wanted to be left alone. So ultimately they'd cut out whatever they couldn't source and should be able to, but would stick with the basic facts Te'o gave. I'd imagine nobody wants to be the sportswriter who pissed off the player and Notre Dame by acting tacky and putting pressure on him about his girlfriend's death. Enthusiast press and all.
LyleLanley
Banned
As a Polynesian defensive player not named Polamalu I question how big of a shot he had at most endorsements anyways. Either way it's a moot point since he's probably still going to get drafted high enough to be paid a ton of money right out of the gate.
I was going to say this exact thing. This is VERY carefully worded. It's very easy to read into it that they met at that game, but he never actually says that. If he was being hoaxed, "she" could have just as easily said that she saw him at that game on the phone.
timetokill
Banned
Guys in the NFL are gonna have a field day taunting the shit out of this kid. The jokes fucking write themselves.
WesternHeretic
Member
It seems the media (ESPN) has really bought into the angle that he's the victim.
TangoAlphaLima
Member
Sure, he would never have been doing national TV Head & Shoulders commercials, but there are plenty of smaller, local endorsement deals players get, especially for a high profile 1st round draft pick like Manti. And he may have had his fair share of low end national deals, like appearing in magazine ads or promoting some protein shake or what have you. This scandal has to have cost him money.
Bobby Roberts
Banned
I'm pretty sure Melelengei isn't even a name. I mean, like a name nobody's ever had in the history of the world, ever.
It sounds like a detail he made up on the spot, same with "White" being her favorite color. Like, who's favorite color is WHITE?
"Uh, so I got her flowers. White roses. White is her favorite color."
"Well, her name isn't really Lennay. It's Melelengei, but nobody could say that, so they just called her Lennay."
Both of those sentences sound like someone making some shit up off the top of their head.
It sounds like a detail he made up on the spot, same with "White" being her favorite color. Like, who's favorite color is WHITE?
"Uh, so I got her flowers. White roses. White is her favorite color."
"Well, her name isn't really Lennay. It's Melelengei, but nobody could say that, so they just called her Lennay."
Both of those sentences sound like someone making some shit up off the top of their head.
nVidiot_Whore
Banned
Yeah that's what I've been trying to get at the last 2 pages.
The hoaxed + lied theory if true is almost worse. He leveraged something he thought was real for personal gain.. seems less mentally ill, and almost less forgivable if he actually thought he knew some girl who died and then made up a bunch of crap to make it seem really relevant to him.
As opposed to just making it all up.. then he just comes across as being sort of sick and needing serious help.
Was anyone reading the story in the OP and immediately think, "Wow, this is a fucking story for Catfish".....and then come to the part about Donna Tei trying to get in touch with Nev, the executive producer of Catfish?
The Catfish thing is the one thing that makes me think maybe it was a hoax played on Manti. I could see the perpetrators selling the story to the producers for a lot of press and money. I mean, how do you top Catfish? By pulling that shit on one of the top college football players.
That seems like an endgame that actually makes sense to me.
nVidiot_Whore
Banned
Well only 4 google results, all related to this story.
However, that is a transcript. So who knows WTF the spelling would be if it's a real name, or even if the reporter heard him correctly.
I really don't know what to think. I only read the article in the OP because it's all they're talking about on ESPN right now so I figured that the article would get me up to speed. Never even heard of this relationship until I saw the thread here.
I haven't processed it all yet, lol
I haven't processed it all yet, lol
Bobby Roberts
Banned
I just did a quick google search of Hawaiian names - nothing even CLOSE to Melelengei comes up. Granted, it's a 10 minute Google search that only goes back like, 3 pages, and considering the number of unique, never existed 20 years previous names that many kids have today in America, it doesn't exactly prove anything.
But man, does that SOUND like some bullshit.
MikeE21286
Member
I would love to see his wonderlick scores
nVidiot_Whore
Banned
And I don't know that Hawaiians are known for inventing fake names that sound a little bit like classic Hawaiian names or language.
It really does sound like someone almost making fun of a Hawaiian talking.
I hear it in the cheesy voices you'll hear repeat Hawaiian history at places like the Sheraton Maui where they do fake ceremonies every night for tourists.
MiamiWesker
Member
I don't know why anyone from the media doesn't ask the most simple, revealing, end game question of all... Where is the girl Te'o supposedly talked too. They have that tuiasosopo guy why don't they have the girl? She is the key to everything, get her and you get some answers.
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