The Tale of the Te'o
Discreet City / Octavius Williams
Discreet City / Octavius Williams
By no means is Discreet City a gossip website nor are we a minute by minute gay news source. However the stranger than fiction story that is happening concerning Manti Te’o and the "hoax" girlfriend, immediately had my thoughts come to a logical conclusion. My opinion and assumptions to this story is based on past experiences with men who are not secure (like I once was) with their sexuality; especially when these men are athletes.
Yes I know how the saying goes “when you assume” but even if my assumptions are wrong; my opinion is still here to serve a valuable purpose.
Okay so here is the story and I will try my best to keep it short.
Notre Dame star football player, Heisman Trophy runner up, and potential 1st round NFL draft pick Manti Te'o, became the poster boy of pride and inspiration to the sports world and mainstream media due to playing through struggle and adversity.
What was the struggle and adversity? September 2012 Manti’s grandmother passed away and days later, his girlfriend (Lennay Kekua) in California died of leukemia. The girlfriend had been in a serious car accident in California, and during her medical care for the car accident had been diagnosed with leukemia.
Yes I know how the saying goes “when you assume” but even if my assumptions are wrong; my opinion is still here to serve a valuable purpose.
Okay so here is the story and I will try my best to keep it short.
Notre Dame star football player, Heisman Trophy runner up, and potential 1st round NFL draft pick Manti Te'o, became the poster boy of pride and inspiration to the sports world and mainstream media due to playing through struggle and adversity.
What was the struggle and adversity? September 2012 Manti’s grandmother passed away and days later, his girlfriend (Lennay Kekua) in California died of leukemia. The girlfriend had been in a serious car accident in California, and during her medical care for the car accident had been diagnosed with leukemia.
For months this story with the details of Manti’s grief, determination and spirit where touted though out media outlets as a testament to Manti’s devout faith in his religion (he is a Mormon) and his commitment to his dead girlfriend that she informed him via text message “Babe, if anything happens to me, you promise that you'll stay there and you'll play and you'll honor me through the way you play.”
Ok the only problem with this is that the “girlfriend” never existed. It has been reveled by sports website Deadspin that this whole story was supposedly a hoax that was played on Manti and his family.
How? Well you see Manti never met his girlfriend in person. They only spoke over the phone and via text messages and twitter. The pictures online that exist of this girl belong to someone else and were stolen from a face book account. Oh and by the way Manti’s father stated in an interview in October 2012 that the girlfriend would travel to Hawaii to visit Manti and spend time with their family. Yeah but the thing is, there wasn’t a girlfriend.
If you want to read the full details (it’s a lot of conflicting details) of the “hoax”, view them here.
So lets ask the obvious questions.
-How can you have a girlfriend who doesn’t exist?
-How did the father and family met a girl who doesn’t exist?
-Who was Manti talking to online, texting and talking to on the phone for hours?
-The relationship supposedly stated in 2009. At to no point did Manti and Lennay Skype or talk to each other on webcam?
-If this is a hoax, who are the hoaxers?
Ok the only problem with this is that the “girlfriend” never existed. It has been reveled by sports website Deadspin that this whole story was supposedly a hoax that was played on Manti and his family.
How? Well you see Manti never met his girlfriend in person. They only spoke over the phone and via text messages and twitter. The pictures online that exist of this girl belong to someone else and were stolen from a face book account. Oh and by the way Manti’s father stated in an interview in October 2012 that the girlfriend would travel to Hawaii to visit Manti and spend time with their family. Yeah but the thing is, there wasn’t a girlfriend.
If you want to read the full details (it’s a lot of conflicting details) of the “hoax”, view them here.
So lets ask the obvious questions.
-How can you have a girlfriend who doesn’t exist?
-How did the father and family met a girl who doesn’t exist?
-Who was Manti talking to online, texting and talking to on the phone for hours?
-The relationship supposedly stated in 2009. At to no point did Manti and Lennay Skype or talk to each other on webcam?
-If this is a hoax, who are the hoaxers?
Well the answer to the last question is the reason I am doing this post. The supposed hoaxer is a former high school star quarterback turned religious musician named Ronaiah Tuiasosopo.
You see Ronaiah was friends with Manti. Ronaiah comes from a football family and his father who is an assistant football coach at a high school is also a pastor of his own church. Ronaiah is a singer not just within his father’s church but also on YouTube.
Ronaiah corresponded on Twitter with Manti and a tweet from Ronaiah’s deleted Twitter account stated they hung out “with his bro“ after a game in on a trip to the West Coast. Oh and Ronaiah had been in a car accident around the same time the made up girlfriend was also in a car accident.
All the online accounts for the girlfriend Lennay Kekua, were opened by Ronaiah. All the pictures of the girlfriend were of course stolen.
Manti made a public statement saying “This is incredibly embarrassing to talk about, but over an extended period of time, I developed an emotional relationship with a woman I met online.”
You see Ronaiah was friends with Manti. Ronaiah comes from a football family and his father who is an assistant football coach at a high school is also a pastor of his own church. Ronaiah is a singer not just within his father’s church but also on YouTube.
Ronaiah corresponded on Twitter with Manti and a tweet from Ronaiah’s deleted Twitter account stated they hung out “with his bro“ after a game in on a trip to the West Coast. Oh and Ronaiah had been in a car accident around the same time the made up girlfriend was also in a car accident.
All the online accounts for the girlfriend Lennay Kekua, were opened by Ronaiah. All the pictures of the girlfriend were of course stolen.
Manti made a public statement saying “This is incredibly embarrassing to talk about, but over an extended period of time, I developed an emotional relationship with a woman I met online.”
A friend of Ronaiah Tuiasosopo has stated he was "80 percent sure" that Manti Te'o was "in on the hoax," and that the two perpetrated Lennay Kekua's death with publicity in mind. According to the friend, there were numerous photos of Ronaiah Tuiasosopo and Te'o together on Tuiasosopo's now-deleted Instagram account.
How did Manti Te’o’s father and family met a girl who didn’t exist? Why would a star athlete need a "online only" distant girlfriend he never met, while there are plenty of girls on his college campus? This seems odd to me.
Now lets get to my assumption and hypothesis.
Manti is a closeted homosexual who did not want his homosexual relationship to hinder his career. His homosexuality would have also seemed hypocritical being that he as a devout Mormon who plays football for a Catholic University.
His lover, Ronaiah Tuiasosopo comes from a football family and is active in his father’s Christian church.
Manti’s family assisted in the lie to help and protect their beloved son. Why else would his family lie about a girlfriend (and her family) that they didn’t meet because she never existed?
Ronaiah Tuiasosopo created all the online accounts to help facilitate the lie so Manti could always point to the stolen pictures of the beautiful girl. A popular attractive star athlete would be asked the questions, “are you seeing someone?” “who is the lucky lady?” Oh my girlfriend is lives in California and her is a picture. How did this hoax fall a part?
Because Manti and Ronaiah broke up. What better way to end the public pretend relationship by killing off the pretend girlfriend like a character in a soap opera?
As I stated before, even if my assumptions are wrong; my opinion is still here to serve a valuable purpose. That purpose is, we as masculine homosexual men have to understand that there is nothing wrong with our sexuality. Living double or secretive lives that are propped up by lies and deceit will eventually catch up with you. The results may be far worse than if you would've just been honest in the first place.
I must say that I can understand and sympathize with Manti and Ronaiah situation.
Because of our society, religious attitudes about homosexuality, the negative imagines and the stereotypes that many gays perpetuate; these men chose to hide, deflect and create an elaborate tale.
Just like Manti and Ronaiah, many of us are ashamed of our sexuality and in turn end up denying ourselves happiness and joy. Simply because of what others may think of us.
At some point masculine homosexual men will need to be honest and stop hiding from ourselves. This doesn’t mean you have to have a grand “coming out” proclamation. It just means coming to terms with and accepting who you are and accepting there is absolutely nothing wrong with a man being sexually attracted to another man or a man falling in love with another man.
The internet is already started to speculate and form the same conclusions I have....why? Because many feel it is the only conclusion that fits or makes sense.
Let me know what you think. Do you think I am way off with my conclusion and hypothesis?
How did Manti Te’o’s father and family met a girl who didn’t exist? Why would a star athlete need a "online only" distant girlfriend he never met, while there are plenty of girls on his college campus? This seems odd to me.
Now lets get to my assumption and hypothesis.
Manti is a closeted homosexual who did not want his homosexual relationship to hinder his career. His homosexuality would have also seemed hypocritical being that he as a devout Mormon who plays football for a Catholic University.
His lover, Ronaiah Tuiasosopo comes from a football family and is active in his father’s Christian church.
Manti’s family assisted in the lie to help and protect their beloved son. Why else would his family lie about a girlfriend (and her family) that they didn’t meet because she never existed?
Ronaiah Tuiasosopo created all the online accounts to help facilitate the lie so Manti could always point to the stolen pictures of the beautiful girl. A popular attractive star athlete would be asked the questions, “are you seeing someone?” “who is the lucky lady?” Oh my girlfriend is lives in California and her is a picture. How did this hoax fall a part?
Because Manti and Ronaiah broke up. What better way to end the public pretend relationship by killing off the pretend girlfriend like a character in a soap opera?
As I stated before, even if my assumptions are wrong; my opinion is still here to serve a valuable purpose. That purpose is, we as masculine homosexual men have to understand that there is nothing wrong with our sexuality. Living double or secretive lives that are propped up by lies and deceit will eventually catch up with you. The results may be far worse than if you would've just been honest in the first place.
I must say that I can understand and sympathize with Manti and Ronaiah situation.
Because of our society, religious attitudes about homosexuality, the negative imagines and the stereotypes that many gays perpetuate; these men chose to hide, deflect and create an elaborate tale.
Just like Manti and Ronaiah, many of us are ashamed of our sexuality and in turn end up denying ourselves happiness and joy. Simply because of what others may think of us.
At some point masculine homosexual men will need to be honest and stop hiding from ourselves. This doesn’t mean you have to have a grand “coming out” proclamation. It just means coming to terms with and accepting who you are and accepting there is absolutely nothing wrong with a man being sexually attracted to another man or a man falling in love with another man.
The internet is already started to speculate and form the same conclusions I have....why? Because many feel it is the only conclusion that fits or makes sense.
Let me know what you think. Do you think I am way off with my conclusion and hypothesis?
