Ronaiah Tuiasosopo claims he was molested by someone close to the family, and this started when he was 12 years old. He also "demonstrated" the Lennay Kekua voice to Dr. Phil.
It's not clear who the alleged molester is/was and if Ronaiah has reported him to the police--which also makes one question whether the story is real or not. Given that he created a fake identity and supposedly duped Te'o for months (if not years), it's not inconceivable that the molestation story is not true. (If true, I hope he gets some help and reports the perpetrator to the police. If false, then there are still unanswered questions.)
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The voice on telephone messages left for Manti Te'o matches that of the 22-year-old man who says he posed as a woman in carrying on a relationship -- by e-mail and over the phone -- with the Notre Dame linebacker, according to the "Dr. Phil" show.
"They all say, with scientific certainty, that Ronaiah Tuiasosopo is the female voice in those recordings," host Phil McGraw said, citing conclusions by forensic voice analysts with three independent contractors.
That conclusion supports Tuiasosopo's assertion that, posing as a woman, he was involved in a relationship with Te'o, who had not known that his love interest was a man.
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A first attempt at overcoming his objection -- putting Tuiasosopo behind a screen in McGraw's home, where the interview took place -- resulted in equivocal findings from the voice analysts.
But when the venue was switched to Tuiasosopo's house, where he said he had made the calls to Te'o, the results were uniformly in agreement, McGraw said.
Tuiasosopo told McGraw that the ruse had its roots in sexual abuse he endured from someone close to his family that began when he was 12 years of age.
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http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2013/02/manti-teo-hoax-tuiasosopo-family-shaken-by-news-of-molestation.html http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/01/us/manti-teo-hoax/?hpt=hp_t2 Edit to add: commentary from the Washington Post alludes to M.Butterfly. Hmm. Next season on Broadway: M.Te'o
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/compost/wp/2013/02/01/ronaiah-tuiasosopo-on-dr-phil-manti-teo-and-the-m-butterfly-effect/ --------
This saga reminds me of the David Henry Hwang play “M. Butterfly,” based on the true story of French diplomat Bernard Boursicot, who lived for twenty years with Shi Pei Pu, a Chinese opera performer he thought was female. Dedicated to the deception, Shi even produced a child. Tuaisosopo has shown admirable commitment to his bit, but nothing anywhere near this level.
The play deals with a number of questions not present in the Te’o story – imperialism, for one — but it does make one point that is a good one if we want to give everyone the full benefit of the doubt.
In it, one of the characters says, “Why, in Chinese theater, are women always played by men? Because only men know how women should act.” That’s not just Chinese theater. Some of our literature’s most famous women – Juliet, Ophelia, Cleopatra – were created and first played by men.
Add the fake girlfriend Lennay to the pile.
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“I’m a man who loved a woman created by a man,” the deceived diplomat says late in Hwang’s play. “Anything else simply falls short.”
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Coach Bob knew it all along: you've got to get obsessed and stay obsessed. You have to keep passing the open windows. (John Irving, The Hotel New Hampshire)
Updated On: 2/2/13 at 10:24 AM
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