Lennay Kekua, A Hoax!

[aubeirish]

If Te'o and O'Meara actually started dating, they would have probably one of the craziest "how we met" stories in history.

Lol, I was thinking about that while watching her interview. It would kind of funny indeed.

 

[NDFANnSouthWest]

This entire thing is blown out of context. Those ppl that are making fun and creating Manti bobble head night etc are bullies and is what is wrong with today's society. They better watch out since Karma is a B!tch!

 

[rikkitikki08]

This thread has almost a half million views. That has to be some type of IE record

 

[Whiskeyjack]

Tim Prister just put Deadspin on blast in this article:

They had their story, and they embellished it. The truth wasn’t good enough. They had to add some zing to it. They took reality and stretched it until it became a national story.

Some might say that applies to Manti Te’o and his family regarding the ruse that was Lennay Kekua. But the Te’o family’s reaction was a result of one of the greatest scams ever perpetrated on a person of fame and future fortune. A network of professional pretenders duped him. Family, friends, teammates, roommates, reporters and even Mormon clergy were among the deceived in the Catfish concoction.

Te’o embellished the story of his relationship with the alleged Lennay Kekua, not while she was alive, but after she had “passed”. He dramatized. So, too, did his father. Some would have chosen to keep many of the loving thoughts expressed private. But none of that is a crime, let alone proof of complicity in the charade.

The real embellishers - the ones whose words and assumptions have cast a lifelong shadow over the life of Te’o - are the authors of the Deadspin story that blew the lid off the case and revealed to a largely unsuspecting people today’s meaning of the word Catfish.

Timothy Burke and Jack Dickey, the Deadspin writers who have ridden the fame of the Te’o story, are just as guilty of selective reporting as those who stand accused by them.

They don’t know Manti Te’o. Never interviewed him. Never spent a meaningful second with him like the media who covered him for four years at Notre Dame. While they acknowledged Te’o’s Mormon faith, they provided a cursory and selective representation of Te’o’s spirituality to fit their needs.

They jumped on the opportunity to provide this quote from Te’o: “Faith is believing in something that you most likely can’t see, but you believe to be true. You feel in your heart, and in your soul, that it’s true, but you still take that leap.”

That’s a great tie-in for a writer. Lennay Kekua doesn’t and never did really exist. Te’o said faith is something you most likely can’t see. Dramatic. Effective.

Of course, she - the person he believed to be his girlfriend - was very real. She, Ronaiah Tuiasosopo and others, convinced dozens, perhaps even hundreds of people that she was real and that she did exist, long before we heard of her “passing” on Sept. 12, 2012.

There was a girl who told Te’o that she loved him, and that she wanted him to live a life of God and others first. She pressed all the buttons that Te’o would respond to because of his spiritual background.

But while Burke and Dickey did break a story that had to be told - deserved to be told due to the scam and the magnitude of Te’o - they took it to an unsubstantiated conclusion.

“A friend of Ronaiah Tuiasosopo told us he was ’80 percent sure’ that Manti Te’o was ‘in on it,’ and that the two perpetrated Lennay Kekua’s death with publicity in mind,” they wrote.

Really? That’s not investigative journalism; that’s speculative and selective journalism for the sake of a tidy punch line at the end of the story. Had they not gone there with their conclusion, they would have had a solid, compelling story. Detailing the scam perpetrated upon Te’o and his family would have been a national story in itself. By all accounts up to that point, great work.

But they took it too far and reached conclusions without reasonable proof that Te’o was involved.

“The sheer quantity of falsehoods about Manti’s relationship with Lennay makes that friend (of Tuiasosopo’s), and another relative of Ronaiah’s, believe Te’o had to know the truth,” Burke and Dickey wrote. “Mostly, though, the friend simply couldn’t believe that Te’o would be stupid enough - or Ronaiah Tuiasosopo clever enough - to sustain the relationship for nearly a year.”

Had to know? That’s Journalism 101. You have to come a whole lot closer to proving “had to know” to use sources who are friends of the perpetrator of an elaborate hoax.

Connecting Te’o’s “falsehoods” about his relationship with Kekua as proof of his involvement in the scam is a scam in itself. Yes, there were inconsistencies in Te’o’s portrayal of his relationship with Kekua that eventually involved his father, Brian. Te’o himself didn’t just answer the media’s persistent questions about his girlfriend; he embellished. They played a role in helping dramatize the end result.

But that’s hardly proof of Te’o’s involvement in the scam, any more than Deadspin’s “80 percent sure” quote. Shouldn’t that source now be accountable for the validity of such a claim in light of the evidence to show otherwise?

Meanwhile, Deadspin’s response - in light of their inability to prove Te’o’s guilt - is to put out stories with headlines that read: Why Katie Couric’s Manti Te’o Interview Will Suck. Now that’s professional. Now that’s solid reporting.

An interview on Deadspin Tuesday quoted Burke regarding the “80 percent sure” quote from an anonymous source.

“We would have printed whatever our sources said,” Burke said. “We had three separate sources, all of whom were directly connected to somebody who had known Ronaiah Tuiasosopo themselves or had spoken with Tuiasosopo about the hoax. All three of these people expressed the belief that Te’o had a part in the hoax.”

You would have printed whatever your sources said? That sounds an awful lot like the journalists who had numerous sources who would have sworn that Kekua and Te’o’s in-season tragedy were real. They printed what the sources said about Te’o and his girlfriend’s death. For Burke, it is important for other journalists to have proven, credible sources. But when it comes to his three unnamed sources who have been proven wrong, their credibility is glossed over.

The media that covers Notre Dame football didn’t have the advantage of an email that told them Kekua didn’t exist. Had those same writers received such a tip, they undoubtedly would have seen the red flag and investigated as well.

And what about all the “sources” who convinced Te’o and his family and his teammates and his roommates and his friends and even his bishop that Kekua was real? The alleged Kekua spoke with Te’o’s mom about converting to Mormonism, as she did herself. Those sources don’t count? Oh, only the sources that contribute to Deadspin’s story that concludes that Te’o was in cahoots with the perpetrators.

Investigative journalism is not investigating one side of the story and manipulating the other side to fit the desired scenario/conclusion, no matter how spectacular and effective the result.

Perhaps the writers did expose the media for not being better fact checkers. There’s always a lesson to be learned amidst a tragedy, which this is because it is the willful and purposeful decision to humiliate another human being - both by the perpetrators of the scam and the Deadspin writers themselves.

Burke and Dickey deserve credit for breaking the story on the hoax perpetrated upon Te’o. Had they left it at that, everyone in the business could sit back and objectively say, ‘Damn, great job uncovering the scam.’

But they took it too far. They took it so far that their sources were just as lacking as the media’s sources in originally covering Te’o’s tragedy. The difference is that Deadspin’s story made Te’o’s name a punch line and the target of ridicule for the rest of his life. Meanwhile, there remains no evidence that Te’o was complicit in the scam. With each passing day, there is further “testimony” that shows he was not.

Incredibly, Burke has now neatly washed his hands of any further responsibility to validate his sources’ claims.

“When we are trying to gauge where in the situation responsibility lies, we are going to ask the people closest to the situation,” Burke said. “We reported what they told us. Whether or not Te’o is involved does not matter to me - it’s not of interest.”

Welcome to today’s investigative journalism. It is selective journalism for the sake of sensationalism. And the future looks bleaker than ever.

 

[NDPhilly]

Wow. That's like something Sampson would write. Awesome job by Tim.

 

[Bogtrotter07]

This thread has almost a half million views. That has to be some type of IE record

Does that mean we famous? That couldn't be a motivation for all the bullshiit going around. All these stupid opinions, and attempts at (poor) humor couldn't be plays for more attention, could they? Wow, wouldn't it be better if any of them had intelligible points, or were actually funny?

 

[Grahambo]

Prister. Game. Blouses.

 

[BeauBenken]

Tim Prister just put Deadspin on blast in this article:

Hell yea.

David Spade = Prister
Chris Farley = Deadspin

 

[IrishLax]

Tim Prister just put Deadspin on blast in this article:

Wow. That's an evisceration. Never would've happened if Te'o got in front of the story.

 

[phork]

I just love Deadspins sources though. Friends of someone connected to Ronaiah. So not even someone connected to Ronaiah, or Ronahiah himself. But someone connected to someone.....

Someone ---> Someone ---> Ronaiah.

How insane is that? Thats like me asking IrishLAX about NDinLA because he is connected to Whiskeyjack.....

 

[connor_in]

Tim Prister just put Deadspin on blast in this article:

Man...the response of Burke at the end...I guess its ok for me to say based on talking to three sources here with no interaction with Burke...I am 80% sure he has molested baby sheep...and I have no interest in following the story any further

Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk 2

 

[Kak7304]

Whether or not Te’o is involved does not matter to me - it’s not of interest.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't finding out the answer to this question the purpose of journalism?

 

[IrishLax]

I just love Deadspins sources though. Friends of someone connected to Ronaiah. So not even someone connected to Ronaiah, or Ronahiah himself. But someone connected to someone.....

Someone ---> Someone ---> Ronaiah.

How insane is that? Thats like me asking IrishLAX about NDinLA because he is connected to Whiskeyjack.....

haha that's a pretty solid analogy.....

 

[Bogtrotter07]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't finding out the answer to this question the purpose of journalism?

Journalism and masking of sociopathology, (America's current favorite national avocation) are two remarkably different things.

 

[palinurus]

Man...the response of Burke at the end...I guess its ok for me to say based on talking to three sources here with no interaction with Burke...I am 80% sure he has molested baby sheep...and I have no interest in following the story any further

Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk 2

I know a guy who says a guy he knows told him that Urban Meyer does bad things with barnyard animals. Deadspin should feel free to quote me liberally.

 

[PraetorianND]

Ronaiah Tuiasosopo -- House Call From Celebrity Psychiatrist Dr. Charles Sophy | TMZ.com

Ronaiah Tuiasosopo got a visit from a world famous psychiatrist last night ... a guy who's worked with everyone from Michael Jackson to Paris Hilton ... TMZ has learned.

The shrink to the stars is Dr. Charles Sophy -- a high-ranking official with the Los Angeles Dept. of Children and Family Services.

Sophy was involved in the Michael Jackson child molestation case, the Paris Hilton jail saga (when she was suffering from panic attacks) and counseled Taylor Armstrong during her split with her husband.

But last night, Sophy appeared at the Tuiasosopo family home in Palmdale, CA ... and though he wouldn't say why he was there, it's obvious his visit is connected to the drama surrounding the Manti Te'o hoax.

When we asked Dr. Sophy if his visit was in connection to a TV show -- the doc told us, "You know I can't discuss anything."

As for Ronaiah, he has yet to speak to the media about the hoax -- but Manti says he's already called him privately and confessed to everything.
See also
The Link Between Manti Te'o and Katie Couric is ... Matthew Hiltzik
Manti Te'o -- Giving First On-Camera Interview to Katie Couric
Manti Te'o Scandal -- RONAIAH SURFACES!!

If this guy gets any kind of fame (aside from infamy) and/or fortune for what he did to Manti I'm going to lose it.

 

[GoIrish41]

Manti could go from being America's sweetheart to really, really hated. Depending on how the media spins this.

Outside of ND fans heis already hater

 

[Irish#1]

There definitely isn't any monetary value in it, and I agree with you that Teo would be better off just letting it die. It's quite clear that he had no part in it and anyone who doesn't see that is just not paying attention or is willfully blind to the facts. Teo has nothing to gain from dragging Tuisosopo through a lawsuit, and probably something to lose. People who want to believe he was a part of the hoax won't be dissuaded from it by the lawsuit. They'll just compare him to Lance Armstrong, say he is not just a hoaxster but a bully with some nerve, bringing a lawsuit against his co-conspirator. Not worth it. He should just move on -- which is exactly what I think he will do.

Agree. If he sued and won what would he get? The kid lives with his parents. Te'o would never see any money. The only othe roption would be to sue Twitter and that might be a tougher battle.

 

[Kak7304]

Preview for the interview Thursday:

Manti Te’o Speaks: A Katie Exclusive – Katie Couric

 

[rocket66]

I'm so sick of this story. Won't even watch.

 

[Kak7304]

I'm so sick of this story. Won't even watch.

The end is in sight.

 

[phork]

The end is in sight.

Thanks to Beyonce and her lip syncing!

 

[Kak7304]

Thanks to Beyonce and her lip syncing!

Did anyone see The Daily Show tonight? Jon Stewart commented on the lip syncing and said it wasn't actually Beyonce but was Ronaiah. Much more entertaining if you actually watch the clip, I promise.

 

[irishtrain]

I had the discussion with a friend the other day about talking to the media as a player in whatever league or school. As a former MLB player I can honestly say that I would just tell my club I was not doing it. Steve Carlton style (although I couldnt hold his jockstrap) you get my drift. Then if the league tried to fine me I'd take it to court just to keep away from these *&^%$#@ leeches. Why would I want to talk to a group of people who have it so @#$ backwards.

 

[We_Are_ND]

Ugh. Manti is crying in the Katie interview. Kid is crushed. This sucks.

 

[NDinFL]

Is there any way that one of the twitter guys can link the article that Whiskey posted, and try to spread that as much as possible?

Basically clowning and discrediting deadspin's bs story

 

[phgreek]

Ugh. Manti is crying in the Katie interview. Kid is crushed. This sucks.

...of course...

Break the good man by damning he, and those with empathy for him

Minimize the deeds of the evil man by ignoring them, and damning the principled who seek justice

...Its easy to be the press...your moral compass is in gimble lock, and peer pressure amounts to a contest of how many and who've you *ucked over, and has nothing to do with maintaining journalistic ethics and integrity.

 

[BGIF]

...of course...

Break the good man by damning he, and those with empathy for him

Minimize the deeds of the evil man by ignoring them, and damning the principled who seek justice

...Its easy to be the press...your moral compass is in gimble lock, and peer pressure amounts to a contest of how many and who've you *ucked over, and has nothing to do with maintaining journalistic ethics and integrity.

I repped you for your moral compass. I'm sure you suffer no gimbal lock although you may gimble when you read this reply.


Gimble - to make a face, grimace.

 

[Bogtrotter07]

I repped you for your moral compass. I'm sure you suffer no gimbal lock although you may gimble when you read this reply.


Gimble - to make a face, grimace.

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My we have come full circle! My daughter reminded me of this scene and I couldn't get this clip out of my mind!

What department store was the site of the famous throne?






(Or stated another way

Journalism and masking of sociopathology, (America's current favorite national avocation) are two remarkably different things.

 

[kmoose]

I just love Deadspins sources though. Friends of someone connected to Ronaiah. So not even someone connected to Ronaiah, or Ronahiah himself. But someone connected to someone.....

Someone ---> Someone ---> Ronaiah.

How insane is that? Thats like me asking IrishLAX about NDinLA because he is connected to Whiskeyjack.....

Why are you checking up on NDinLA?