Manti Te'o's dead girlfriend?

[Count 'Bility]

ha. nice.

[QMany]

This PR stunt by Te'o is a f'ing joke. Interview on a Friday night?

 

His people told him to tell a story so that he comes out of it the best.

 

I don't believe any of it.

[tschu]

Alright, so Te'o...

• does an interview on a Friday f'ing night
  
• with Jeremy Schaap, who made Oprah look like Mike Wallace
  
• totally off-camera, with limited use of audio recording
  
• says things that directly contradict his earlier statement and ND's earlier statement
  
• says he never visited his dying GF because "it never crossed my mind"
  
• claims that Tuiasasopo apologized via twitter, but the accounts have had no contact with each other, so after the interview the story was changed to say that Tuiasasopo contacted him via a phone call. Phone records will sadly not be released ever because nothing criminal was done (that we know of)
  
• claims that a woman claiming to be Lennay Kakua showed up at his hotel before the title game...a claim which ESPN reports and then promptly deletes all reference to with no explanation
  

So, in conclusion, Manti's PR guys obviously had been working hard the last couple of days. They got the biggest clown of a journalist to do the interview, still played the victim card. I was starting to believe Manti might truly be the victim, but not anymore. This is ridiculous. And ESPN is happy to play along; anything that tries to make the Deadspin story look wrong is good for them.

[frijole]

Read the update on Deadspin this morning about the ESPN interview. They are following closely and noticed for some reason ESPN removed part of their original report early this morning... the part of the interview where Manti talked about meeting her the DAY of the championship game and how he still wasn't convinced this was a hoax until Wednesday of this week. SMH Still too many questions for me. I'm counting on Deadspin to keep digging at the truth. This ESPN interview was done under circumstances controlled by Manti's lawyers who sat in on it. No doubt they controlled the questions that were asked. The kids dad was upset that a local paper wrote a negative article after the NCG... wonder what he's thinking now? Wow. Just. Wow.

[Mavric]

Alright, so Te'o...

• does an interview on a Friday f'ing night
  
• with Jeremy Schaap, who made Oprah look like Mike Wallace
  
• totally off-camera, with limited use of audio recording
  
• says things that directly contradict his earlier statement and ND's earlier statement
  
• says he never visited his dying GF because "it never crossed my mind"
  
• claims that Tuiasasopo apologized via twitter, but the accounts have had no contact with each other, so after the interview the story was changed to say that Tuiasasopo contacted him via a phone call. Phone records will sadly not be released ever because nothing criminal was done (that we know of)
  
• claims that a woman claiming to be Lennay Kakua showed up at his hotel before the title game...a claim which ESPN reports and then promptly deletes all reference to with no explanation
  

So, in conclusion, Manti's PR guys obviously had been working hard the last couple of days. They got the biggest clown of a journalist to do the interview, still played the victim card. I was starting to believe Manti might truly be the victim, but not anymore. This is ridiculous. And ESPN is happy to play along; anything that tries to make the Deadspin story look wrong is good for them.

 

Biggest one that caught my eye: "It never really crossed my mind. I don't know. I was in school." Really? From May to September you were in school the whole time? My BS meter just broke.

[Mavric]

Te'o said he stayed in contact with Kekua's family after her death. They told him not to come to the funeral because "her mom told them she didn't want me to come."

"They didn't want -- and I didn't want myself -- I didn't want that to be the first time that I saw her was laying in a coffin," Te'o said.

I thought SHE told him not to come. Now it's the family an his decision?

 

ESPN Article

[ShawnWatson]

Regardless of the real truth, I think we can all agree that Manti Te'o is an idiot.

[TonyStalloni]

Yes he probably isn't the brightest bulb in the package. More than likely a publicity hound. Got in too deep and when he found out it was a hoax tried to lie his way out. He's 21 years old .... should we all have our early mistakes broadcast 24/7 by the media? Sad that people devote so much time and energy on something a bunch of old hens would gab about at a quilting bee.

[ZRod]

Regardless of the real truth, I think we can all agree that Manti Te'o is an idiot.

Truth

 

 

Yes he probably isn't the brightest bulb in the package. More than likely a publicity hound. Got in too deep and when he found out it was a hoax tried to lie his way out. He's 21 years old .... should we all have our early mistakes broadcast 24/7 by the media? Sad that people devote so much time and energy on something a bunch of old hens would gab about at a quilting bee.

Well if you're going to embellish it and then embrace the lie to national media that runs 24/7 then I don't know what the problem is.

[tschu]

ESPN just credited a troll twitter account with tweets that supposedly were explaining everything to Manti.

 

Here's the fake tweets that were either someone's troll or were Manti's PR people's fake doings:

 

 

However, the account was created on Wednesday.

 

ESPN did zero background on the account and it was not certified in any way.

 

 

Here's some nice background on the twitter account: http://www.dailydot.com/news/twitter-troll-lennaykay-manti-teo-prank/

 

 

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL ESPN

[tschu]

Just to clarify, the @ LennayKay account was deactivated and after 30 days the SN gets released to the public. The account which may have been part of the hoax/whatever was deactivated so the account was free for the taking for anyone. Either Manti's camp got ahold of it and is trying to use it to clear his name, or a troll got it and is just creating mass havoc. Either way, nice work ESPN!

[scarletNcream]

The real sad truth is had ND had a "regular" season like they have had for the past 20 years, this would not be a story. The bigger issue is the Hiesmen voters saying they voted for this guy BECAUSE of his story. Now all you have to be is an average player, have a great story, and you too can be a Hiesmen finalist?

[sd'sker]

The real sad truth is had ND had a "regular" season like they have had for the past 20 years, this would not be a story. The bigger issue is the Hiesmen voters saying they voted for this guy BECAUSE of his story. Now all you have to be is an average player, have a great story, and you too can be a Hiesmen finalist?

let's be honest, we have always known the heisman holds no integrity.

[sd'sker]

So, in conclusion, Manti's PR guys obviously had been working hard the last couple of days. They got the biggest clown of a journalist to do the interview, still played the victim card. I was starting to believe Manti might truly be the victim, but not anymore. This is ridiculous. And ESPN is happy to play along; anything that tries to make the Deadspin story look wrong is good for them.

very well stated and this is where i am right now. it seems all too scripted and they have been taking their time for damage control. they are getting everything in line and cleaning up any possible loose ends to orchestrate manti's version of this story. all these people coming out to take blame and say ronaih (sp?) has come out to take full responsibility. watching schaap come out an do all the talking for manti reeked of baghdad bob. not to mention the changing quotes and story on the ticker.

 

on final note, i swear i saw it say that manti's play in the bcs game *was* affected by this and he struggled to focus. then, later it said his play *was not*. did anyone else notice this or was i seeing things?

[tschu]

So, in conclusion, Manti's PR guys obviously had been working hard the last couple of days. They got the biggest clown of a journalist to do the interview, still played the victim card. I was starting to believe Manti might truly be the victim, but not anymore. This is ridiculous. And ESPN is happy to play along; anything that tries to make the Deadspin story look wrong is good for them.

very well stated and this is where i am right now. it seems all too scripted and they have been taking their time for damage control. they are getting everything in line and cleaning up any possible loose ends to orchestrate manti's version of this story. all these people coming out to take blame and say ronaih (sp?) has come out to take full responsibility. watching schaap come out an do all the talking for manti reeked of baghdad bob. not to mention the changing quotes and story on the ticker.

 

on final note, i swear i saw it say that manti's play in the bcs game *was* affected by this and he struggled to focus. then, later it said his play *was not*. did anyone else notice this or was i seeing things?

They might have been able to get away with this stuff in the past, but it's 2013. People are so well connected with these stories, so observant, and generally so good at the internet that these "sweep it under the rug" tactics no longer really work and are making ESPN and Manti look awful.