Manti Te’o’s Dead Girlfriend is a Hoax *Merge*

[Diogenes]

Originally Posted by 17yearsandcounting

Will the truth come out? The denial is strong with ND. The rapists are still at large 2+ years later.

Maybe, maybe not. Whatever eventually surfaces, the public will be expected to accept it as the truth whether it is or not.

[17yearsandcounting]

Hows about this:

Via ESPN:

"Dan Tudesco, a 2006 graduate who now works in public relations in New York, set up an online account at fundraising website indiegogo.com on Jan. 9 to solicit $5,000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Inc. The initial pitch said donations would go to the society in memory of Lennay Kekua and in honor of Te'o, "two individuals who have been an inspiration to us through an iconic season."

Tudesco said he and three friends got the fundraising idea after a seeing a video that went viral of Te'o holding his head in dismay during the Irish's 42-14 loss to Alabama in the national championship game on Jan. 7.

The goal was to turn the loss -- and the player's sudden popularity -- into something positive.

"I think we were all kind of disappointed in the result of the game ... and the Manti story was very inspirational," Tudesco told The Associated Press on Thursday.

Notre Dame took notice of Tudesco's tweets about the fund drive and sent a university videographer to shoot an interview with him. The video was posted on the Notre Dame athletics YouTube channel Tuesday.

Tudesco said he didn't believe Notre Dame was aware of the hoax when it promoted his fundraiser.

"It would surprise me that Notre Dame would want to promote this if they knew something like this was going on," Tudesco said.

However, Notre Dame officials said Wednesday that they became aware of the hoax on Dec. 26, nearly two weeks before the championship game. University spokesman Dennis Brown didn't immediately respond to a request seeking comment Thursday."

[17yearsandcounting]

Its time for NEW MEMES

[DIAF]

Originally Posted by Rogah

I gotta tell you, I doubt the university knew that this was all just a big hoax while it was ongoing. Don't get me wrong, they certainly found out before all the rest of us. But I don't believe for a single second that the administrators or coaches at ND knew during the Michigan State game that Te'o was full of crap.

Yeah, I doubt ND knew about it either until the story started to unravel in early/mid December.

[17yearsandcounting]

Originally Posted by DIAF

Yeah, I doubt ND knew about it either until the story started to unravel in early/mid December.

What I just posted clearly says they were going to film an interview with a guy trying to raise funds for Fraudi's invisible lover AFTER THE BCS game.

[DIAF]

Originally Posted by 17yearsandcounting

What I just posted clearly says they were going to film an interview with a guy trying to raise funds for Fraudi's invisible lover AFTER THE BCS game.

And?


I stand by what I say. Notre Dame did not help him FABRICATE this story. Nor did they know it even was a thing until early December. Which is why last night's presser happened. Notre Dame is making it VERY clear that they walked in at the tail end of this thing and have now put the entire onus on Mantei Te'o to answer for his (what will surely be exposed) lie.

[Tricericon]

Originally Posted by 17yearsandcounting

What I just posted clearly says they were going to film an interview with a guy trying to raise funds for Fraudi's invisible lover AFTER THE BCS game.

Right, because Notre Dame isn't a large bureaucratic organization of the sort where the right hand routinely has no idea what the left knows...

[17yearsandcounting]

Originally Posted by DIAF

And?


I stand by what I say. Notre Dame did not help him FABRICATE this story. Nor did they know it even was a thing until early December. Which is why last night's presser happened. Notre Dame is making it VERY clear that they walked in at the tail end of this thing and have now put the entire onus on Mantei Te'o to answer for his (what will surely be exposed) lie.

And again, do you trust what Notre Dame has to say?

[DIAF]

Originally Posted by 17yearsandcounting

And again, do you trust what Notre Dame has to say?

Why do you not? Anti-Notre Dame bias? Sounds like it.

I dont like ND either, but what reason would they have for helping make up this completely idiotic story that has holes so big in it you could drive a truck through it? If they did, it would have been a lot more airtight than this. Sheesh, some people just like conspiracy theories.

I trust that Notre Dame didn't know until it was brought to their attention in early/mid december or whatever..however, I DO think Notre Dame quickly realized that Mantei is lying like hell..which is why you saw that fake pony show last night. Feigning belief in their player so they won't be accused later on of being in on the hoax.

[17yearsandcounting]

Originally Posted by DIAF

Why do you not? Anti-Notre Dame bias? Sounds like it.

I dont like ND either, but what reason would they have for helping make up this completely idiotic story that has holes so big in it you could drive a truck through it? If they did, it would have been a lot more airtight than this. Sheesh, some people just like conspiracy theories.

I trust that Notre Dame didn't know until it was brought to their attention in early/mid december or whatever..however, I DO think Notre Dame quickly realized that Mantei is lying like hell..which is why you saw that fake pony show last night. Feigning belief in their player so they won't be accused later on of being in on the hoax.

Why even bother supporting him? He is graduated. He isnt the schools problem any more. This is the same program that bullied a rape victim and let the perpetrators suit up in the championship game.

[DIAF]

Dude, it's not "support". It's acting like they "believe" so that they can be a shocked, lied-to party later on when the whole thing comes crashing down. They are doing this to insulate themselves against the situation, and If I were them, I would have done the same thing. (minus that ridiculous press conference that is)

[MonsterD]

Originally Posted by Rogah

Um, where's you evidence that that publication has any knowledge of any of this prior to the Deadspin article when all the world found out?

Ok that is an independent publication and not the university's. I guess if 100's other news agencies couldn't figure out that the woman did not even exist that they just followed suit in being blind of easy to verify facts. The university knew 3 weeks ago, and should have announced it, but as usual they are trying to cover their own butts instead.

[Manwiththeplan]

Originally Posted by 17yearsandcounting

What I just posted clearly says they were going to film an interview with a guy trying to raise funds for Fraudi's invisible lover AFTER THE BCS game.

just because some officials became aware, doesn't mean everyone in the university, and specifically anyone shooting an interview, knew.

[Jay]

I see a few options here.

1) Te'o was duped and had no idea, therefore making him one of the dumbest, most gullible people of all time. Oh, and a liar, since if you back track to quotes, he made endless amounts of stuff up. I mean you never go and visit? Have never seen her? But she's the love of your life? Yeah, okay.

2) Te'o was in on it and used it as a publicity stunt to hype him up, in which case he's pretty messed up in the head to fake a girlfriend that dies from leukemia.

3) Te'o "plays for the other team". Since he's Mormon and attending a Catholic school, he made up these crazy lies to attempt to divert any thought about him being a fan of sausages rather than tacos.

For his sake, I think #3 would be the best outcome. I don't care how you look at 1 or 2, he will still come off looking incredibly dumb.

All of this is just my opinion, I don't hate ND have no agendas. I find it incredibly hard to believe that someone can meet the "love of their life" without meeting them, ever. I also find it hard to believe he would purposely do something like this for attention. Maybe it's a combo of 1 and 2, where he was duped, embarrassed, so ran with it. But even then, is there a point to fake killing the "girl"? Could have just broken up with her.

I just find it hard to look at Te'o like he's the "victim". If it was all a big joke played on him, the real joke is the fact that this guy actually fell for it. I don't care about other Catfish stories of anything like that, this particular case with the details we know so far, anyone here ready to openly admit that anything like this could happen to them? Meet the love of your life online, who gets in a life threatening car accident, has leukemia, you never visit her and have never seen her... But you've dated for almost 2 years?

Seriously think about that. That's laughable.

[BraveHeartFan]

This has to be one of the most strange things I've ever heard of happening. If he was in on this to hide the fact that he's gay then that's just absolutely absurd.

If he was a victim of being duped here...wth? how are you that stupid? I can't imagine how he'd be fooled for that long into believing this person is a real person and some how never meet them. That just seems nearly impossible to me.

This is just an incredibly strange story.