Manti Te'o's girlfriend who died in Canada — Page 3

I can't believe this is such a huge story by the media who was partially complicit in its blowing up in the first place.


And Tim Tebow has an invisible boyfriend he's been flamboyant about for yeears.

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I find this story quite fascinating. I'm wondering if Te'o is some kind of con man/pathological liar (a la the guy in Six Degrees of Separation). Some interesting reads: a transcript of an interview Te'o did with Sports Illustrated in September, with lots of details of his (hoax/fake) girlfriend (who he never met in person):

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/college-football/news/20130117/manti-teo-girlfriend-hoax-quotes/?sct=hp_t11_a2

An exchange between a writer and Malcom Gladwell (The Tipping Point) on the 'myth of the dying girlfriend' angle. At the end of the exchange the worrd "mendacity" is used, which of course, reminded me of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. This story is almost like a play:
http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8854036/malcolm-gladwell-chuck-klosterman-manti-teo

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You have to find one of the timeline articles, Huffington Post had a good one, because it shows how the story took place in several parallel universes so it was possible for her to be in a coma but also text him and for her to die on different days depending on which media outlet was covering every ghoulish detail of the tragicomedy.

If I were a strong Mormon head of household who really really really didn't want a gay son and I was so proud of how manly and heterosexual my football playing son was and how much that signified NOT GAYNESS in this culture, I would fill in all sorts of blanks about my son and his dating habits with that invisible gal from the Fantastic Four.

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Your similes are exceptional this afternoon.

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Cyd Zeigler had a similar post on Outsports.com

Exactly addison. It gets better...just not today.

One of the commenters on the Signorile article linked in PJ's post reminded me--everybody, really--that Raymund Burr used leukemia to hide HIS homosexuality too. Although it wasn't a fictional girlfirend who died in Burr's case, but a fictional son from a fictional wife/girlfriend, which is both more convoluted and even more creepy--losing a child being such an inexpressibly awful thing for people to whom it happens in the real world.

Of course, in 1950's Hollywood (unlike today!) closeted actors would conspire with publicists and studios to deceive the public about their personal lives. No, really--it's true. Warner Brothers created a relationship between Burr and Natalie Wood, but in the end decided that saying she was dating Tab Hunter would be better for her career...

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Somebody help me interpret this video. I want to say that the young man sets my Gaydar off so hard (phrasing!) that I've got whiplash. But maybe I'm mis-reading the guy due to my own ignorance about his 'people'?

Are Samoans a soft-spoken people, generally? I have several Tibetan friends who are extremely gentle in their speech, but not even a little bit gay.




Interview with Manti Te'o

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Updated On: 1/18/13 at 04:18 PM

This video is just freaky! I just cannot believe that no one ever asked him how his "girlfriend" was in the sack? Or, no one ever suspected since he had never met her.

Manti Te'o speaks:
http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8859077/manti-teo-notre-dame-fighting-irish-denies-being-part-hoax-late-girlfriend

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Manti Te'o denied being part of a hoax involving a relationship with a person online whom he considered his girlfriend, during an interview with ESPN's Jeremy Schaap on Friday night, but did say he "tailored" his stories so people would think he "met her before she passed away."

"No. Never," Te'o said during the 2½-hour interview. "I wasn't faking it. I wasn't part of this."

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Te'o was told Kekua awoke from the coma in mid-May. From that point, the relationship became more serious and they spoke on the phone every day.

"Every day. I slept on the phone with her every night," Te'o said. "... I'd be on the phone. And she had complications from the accident, and she said the only thing that could help her sleep was if I was on the phone. So I would be on the phone, and I'd have the phone on the whole night."

Schaap asked why Te'o didn't go to see Kekua in the hospital.

"It never really crossed my mind. I don't know. I was in school," he said.

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Your girlfriend, who you speak to every day, is hospitalized from a car accident and later dying from cancer, and visiting her never crosses your mind? This happened between April and September. She was in California. What kind of boyfriend would not visit his dying girlfriend? Would not go to the funeral? Would not visit her grave? Ladies, don't get involved with this guy. He wants to tout you as his girlfriend, but doesn't want to meet you in person.

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Updated On: 1/19/13 at 10:03 AM

What kind of a person starts a relationship with someone over the phone and internet without having had any physical contact with them? The first red flag would have been the Skype calls with blocked video. I mean, c'mon are we to believe this guy was that gullible and naive?

I think it was all a wish fulfillment thing. He had invested all the time and energy in the girlfriend he never met, which eventually brought him past the point of no return. "She" keeps creating reasons they never meet, he has to deny the obvious or risk facing what a chump he has been. Once others started investing in the narrative, he felt the pressure to keep believing against what from the outside is clear evidence of her non-existence.

It's like a -- SPOILER -- a kid who has basically caught onto the Santa Clause myth who clings to it for fear of losing the benefits that come from belief, and also because his parents seem so into the idea of Santa, he doesn't want them to lose Santa too.

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