Lennay Kekua, A Hoax!

JughedJones

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Yes, as opposed to the ridiculous homer'ism which is apparently the only permitted post in this thread.

If ridiculous homerism means that I feel bad for a guy that clearly got scammed and embarassed. Yes, I am a ridiculous homer.

If being rational means trashing him for lying to his Dad because he was embarrased and saying I've lost all respect for him.. than no. I'm not rational.
 

IrishSteelhead

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It's not. As predicted, the haters are still hating and the rivals are still punching holes.

This is something that has no endgame. It will linger for a long time, and it should be fun to hear rival fans using this as a go-to the next decade after their team gets trashed on the field.
 

DCIrish

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If ridiculous homerism means that I feel bad for a guy that clearly got scammed and embarassed. Yes, I am a ridiculous homer.

If being rational means trashing him for lying to his Dad because he was embarrased and saying I've lost all respect for him.. than no. I'm not rational.

He didn't just lie to his dad, he lied to the media months later after the girlfriend supposedly died. There was no reason to do that. If he never says anything about the girlfriend publicly this never becomes a story.
 

CanadianIrish

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We don't have to agree but I just think you're not taking in the specific human qualities involved in such a hoax. Tuiasosopo knew Te'o was an easy mark. Te'o would never think anyone would try to hurt him in such a method, therefore in his own mind there is no way Lennay wasn't real until he finally had confirmation, two days ago.

We're presenting the exact same rationale for what happened , you're just using nicer language and don't appear to think less of him for his "specific human qualities",whereas I do. He got burned because he was an easy mark and lacked emotional maturity. I used the language of emotional maturity of a six year old, which was obviously inflammatory because I have a different view of him now than you do.
 

Kak7304

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We're presenting the exact same rationale for what happened , you're just using nicer language and don't appear to think less of him for his "specific human qualities",whereas I do. He got burned because he was an easy mark and lacked emotional maturity. I used the language of emotional maturity of a six year old, which was obviously inflammatory because I have a different view of him now than you do.

He fell for this because he was naive and trusting because he was raised much better than most people. You're blaming him for not thinking people are as sh!tty as they actually.
 

phork

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Love this guy:

josh flynt ‏@jflyntnd518

Just read that Butler coach Brad Stevens stood up during @CollegeGameDay and made students take down any signs about Te'o. #classact
 

ARALOU

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I think its perfectly fine to have a different opinion of him. My opinion isn't the same and has actually changed twice this week. I still don't hold him in as high of a regard as I did a week ago. I also do not regard him as lowly as I did three days ago. Everyone has their opinion. Opinions can change obviously. I don't feel it necessary to condemn him or his future career over (in my opinion) some lies and exaggerations to make a relationship appear that it was something that it wasn't.

I don't care to argue with folks who think he is behind it. ND fan or not. You. have the right to your opinion. I put mine on here because it is a ND forum. I understand the frustration and embarrassment that the University has to endure. It sucks. I hope Manti can move ahead in his life and put all of this behind him. Having said that, I think its possible that we will see more hoaxes like this and hopefully this makes folks more aware and educated.
 

CanadianIrish

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He fell for this because he was naive and trusting because he was raised much better than most people. You're blaming him for not thinking people are as sh!tty as they actually.

No I'm not. I'm blaming him for being able to fall head over heels "love of my life" for someone he never met in person. That's not being raised better than people or not thinking people are ******, it's plain and simple emotional immaturity.

If you don't see that you are willfully blind.
 

IrishSteelhead

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No I'm not. I'm blaming him for being able to fall head over heels "love of my life" for someone he never met in person. That's not being raised better than people or not thinking people are ******, it's plain and simple emotional immaturity.

If you don't see that you are willfully blind.

Let it go. The pessimistic a-holes that won't be happy until Te'o admits he kidnapped the Lindberg baby are obnoxious, and the sunshine & rainbow a-holes who think the world needs to apologize to him and throw a ticker-tape parade in his honor are equally nauseating.

I'm firmly entrenched in the camp that Teo is a good kid who made a bad error in judgement, will receive scrutiny for it, and then at the end of the day live his life.
 

zemaniak

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No I'm not. I'm blaming him for being able to fall head over heels "love of my life" for someone he never met in person. That's not being raised better than people or not thinking people are ******, it's plain and simple emotional immaturity.

If you don't see that you are willfully blind.

Care to share some of the your own character flaws and mistakes made during your lifetime with this board?

I'd be curious to see how some would judge you
 

vuirish

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No I'm not. I'm blaming him for being able to fall head over heels "love of my life" for someone he never met in person. That's not being raised better than people or not thinking people are ******, it's plain and simple emotional immaturity.

If you don't see that you are willfully blind.

This may be better for the "getting to know you" thread, but you're clearly a psychiatrist, right?
 

Jason Pham

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No I'm not. I'm blaming him for being able to fall head over heels "love of my life" for someone he never met in person. That's not being raised better than people or not thinking people are ******, it's plain and simple emotional immaturity.

If you don't see that you are willfully blind.

It's true. If anything, Ronaiah is the victim here. Te'o being as emotionally inept as he, Ronaiah couldn't help but to dupe him as Te'o was practically, if not literally, asking to be duped.

C'mon man. I know you're trying to pull the discussion from homerism back to the middle ground, but if ever there was the latter, you're not taking us there with the self-admitted inflammatory rhetoric.
 

Kak7304

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No I'm not. I'm blaming him for being able to fall head over heels "love of my life" for someone he never met in person. That's not being raised better than people or not thinking people are ******, it's plain and simple emotional immaturity.

If you don't see that you are willfully blind.

I agree with your general assessment, I just disagree with the label and I guess I'm just arguing semantics. I believe he made plenty of dumb, naive decisions throughout this entire saga but I don't believe he displayed "emotional immaturity." This "relationship" was developed over time like any normal relationship. The people who manipulated Te'o and were able to get close to him quickly because they pretended to be what they knew he would like and want. His leadership, handling of what he perceived to be two simultaneous tragedies, and the calmness displayed in his interview yesterday are not hallmarks of "emotional immaturity." So again, agree with everything, just not the label you gave him.
 

IrishLax

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The only thing wrong with what Canadian is saying is that this kind of thing has happened to thousands upon thousands of people... including married men with children. There are countless cases of guys falling head over heals for people they've never met to the point of wiring them money among other things. Heck, there was a Dateline a couple years ago where an online personality was playing two guys and actually convinced one to go kill the other one.

So sure... you can criticize Manti for his gullibility and emotional 'immaturity' as you put it but it's not like this unheard of in the least. And what you're doing is akin to blaming a rape victim for wearing skimpy clothes and getting really drunk. In all practicality some of the "fault" can be placed on them for putting themselves in the situation to be taken advantage of..... but it's completely inappropriate to BLAME the victim for something that someone did to them even if they made themselves available to the bad action.
 

Kak7304

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One thing I really want to know is the purpose of all this. Why did Ronaiah do this? What was his endgame? Whatever the reason, he definitely has some type of personality disorder.
 

IrishSteelhead

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One thing I really want to know is the purpose of all this. Why did Ronaiah do this? What was his endgame? Whatever the reason, he definitely has some type of personality disorder.

And a lot would argue "so does the guy who fell head over heels in love with a complete stranger they never met." This goes both ways, and I'm staying in the middle.
 

Kak7304

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Manti Te'o's childhood friend received Facebook messages from Lennay Kekua in 2008 - ESPN

Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o was completely and cruelly fooled in a fake girlfriend hoax, and clearly not in on the con, one of his childhood friends said Friday.

Tessi Tolutau, a former Miss South Pacific, grew up five doors from Te'o in Hawaii. She has Facebook messages from Te'o as far back as September 2010, checking on the legitimacy of the fictitious Polynesian beauty Lennay Kekua, who would become his "girlfriend." Te'o even wondered out loud if Kekua might be a "prank."

Tolutau responded that she only knew Kekua from online messaging, and wondered if she was causing trouble.

Te'o ignored his own instincts and eventually began an online and phone "relationship" with her, the start of a three-year ruse that ended in national humiliation for him this week.

"Manti wasn't in on this," says Tolutau, 25. "He checked with a lot of us about her. I believed she was real. We all did."

Tolutau said Kekua messaged her "out of the blue" on Facebook in late 2008, pretending to want information on beauty pageants and dance teams.

"She told me she played volleyball at Stanford, and that she was an aspiring model, and that she modeled for Victoria's Secret," Tolutau said Friday night via phone from her home in Utah. "She said she dated Mark Sanchez for a while. I thought, 'OK, she's trying to make herself sound really good.' But the picture of her was of a tall, skinny, really pretty dark-haired girl. I totally believed she was a real person, so I can see how Manti would."

Tolutau even planned to have lunch with Kekua, "but she canceled." It was probably not a coincidence that in LA, Tolutau wound up meeting a man named Ronaiah Tuisasosopo, who Te'o now says was one of three people -- two men and one woman -- behind the elaborate con.

She doesn't remember exactly how she came to meet Tuiasosopo, but does remember what he looked like.

"He was about 5-8, with sort of chubby cheeks," Tolutau said. "He took me to another dance team's practice. I thought that was kinda weird."

After that day, Tolutau didn't see or hear from either Tuiasosopo or his creation, Kekua. Only when the hoax went public Wednesday did she realize she'd been played.

"It suddenly hit me. I thought, 'Oh, my God. This is huge,' " Tolutau said.
 

IrishLax

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Manti Te'o's childhood friend received Facebook messages from Lennay Kekua in 2008 - ESPN

This might be the single best piece of evidence I've seen so far that Manti wasn't in on it at the inception. Facebook messages to other people trying to check out Lennay. Sheesh... anyone thinking he tried to mastermind this thing at this point is just a hater or crazy.

Poke all the holes in the timeline that you want... who knows how much Manti may or may not have embellished lied after the story blew up... but there is no way he planned this thing.
 

PLACforever

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Some POS tweeted TJ asking if his Dad died or fake died.
I'd love to meet that dude in a dark alley...
 
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