Ronaiah Tuiasosopo: I Was In Love With Manti Te’o So I Guess I’m Gay

Lester Brathwaite | Queerty | January 30, 2013

Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, the mastermind (if that’s what you want to call it)  behind the Manti Te’o dead girlfriend hoax, sat down with Dr. Phil McGraw and  explained that he did it all in the name of love. A (questionably?) gay  love.

The Today show reports:

“Here we have a young man that fell deeply, romantically in love,’’ McGraw  told NBC’s Mike Taibbi in a segment that aired on Today Wednesday. “I  asked him straight up, ‘Was this a romantic relationship with you?’ And he says  yes. I said, ‘Are you then therefore gay?’ And he said, ‘When you put it that  way, yes.’ And then he caught himself and said, ‘I am  confused.’’’

Aren’t we all? Well, all of us except maybe Manti Te’o. For a change.

McGraw’s two-part interview with Tuiasosopo may shine some light on the case  when it airs on Thursday and Friday.

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Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, the mastermind (if that’s what you want to call it)  behind the Manti Te’o dead girlfriend hoax, sat down with Dr. Phil McGraw and  explained that he did it all in the name of love. A (questionably?) gay  love.

The Today show reports:

“Here we have a young man that fell deeply, romantically in love,’’ McGraw  told NBC’s Mike Taibbi in a segment that aired on Today Wednesday. “I  asked him straight up, ‘Was this a romantic relationship with you?’ And he says  yes. I said, ‘Are you then therefore gay?’ And he said, ‘When you put it that  way, yes.’ And then he caught himself and said, ‘I am  confused.’’’

Aren’t we all? Well, all of us except maybe Manti Te’o. For a change.

McGraw’s two-part interview with Tuiasosopo may shine some light on the case  when it airs on Thursday and Friday.

Read more

Woman in Te’o fake girlfriend photo speaks out

Associated Press | Yahoo News | January 22, 2013

NEW YORK (AP) — The woman whose photo was used as the ”face” of the Twitter account of Manti Te’o’s supposed girlfriend says the man allegedly behind the hoax confessed and apologized to her.

Diane O’Meara told NBC’s ”Today” show Tuesday that Ronaiah Tuiasosopo used pictures of her without her knowledge in creating a fake woman called Lennay Kekua. Te’o asserts he was tricked into an online romance with Kekua and, until last week, believed she died of leukemia in September.

O’Meara went to high school in California with Tuiasosopo, but she says they’re not close. He called to apologize Jan. 16, the day Deadspin.com broke the hoax story, she said.

”I don’t think there’s anything he could say to me that would fix this,” said O’Meara, a 23-year-old marketing executive in Los Angeles.

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Why Do We Wonder if Manti Te’o Is Gay? Because of Homophobia in Religion and Sports

Cyd Zeigler | Huffington Post | January 18, 2013

Let me start by repeating what I have said before: I don’t know if Manti Te’o is gay. I won’t even speculate or guess. People are wondering, and I don’t know the answer, though Salon certainly has an opinion on the likelihood of it.

But whether he is or is not, to me, isn’t the question here at the moment as we await more answers from Te’o. The better question is: Why are we wondering if he is? The answer is pretty telling about where corners of our culture truly stand on gay acceptance.

Te’o has lived most of his life at the nexus of some of the most homophobic corners of society. Growing up Mormon isn’t easy for any gay person. And if he is gay, he has been pelted all his life with messages telling him he is less than human. In 2008, as he was selecting which college to attend, the Mormon Church mounted a multi-million-dollar campaign to kill same-sex marriage rights in California. They succeeded. These are powerful messages he has heard from the most respected people in his life. It’s hard to get out from under that, as people like Dustin Lance Black will tell you.

If it was just the Mormon Church someone like Te’o had to contend with, that would be one thing. But there’s so much more.

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Manti Te’o, Katie Couric Interview: Notre Dame Star To Talk Lennay Kekua Hoax On Camera

Huffington Post | January 20, 2013

Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o answers a question during NCAA college football media day in South Bend, Ind.

NEW YORK — Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o will be interviewed by Katie Couric, the first on-camera interview given by the All-American since news broke about the dead girlfriend hoax.

Te’o and his parents will appear on Couric’s syndicated talk show Thursday. ABC News announced the interview Sunday, but gave no details as to when it will take place and where.

Te’o gave an off-camera interview with ESPN on Friday night. He insists he was the victim of the hoax, not a participant. The Heisman Trophy runner-up said he had an online romance with a woman he never met and in September was informed that the woman died from leukemia.

Te’o told ESPN that the person suspected of being the mastermind of the hoax has contacted him and apologized.

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Michelangelo Signorile: If Manti Te’o Is Gay?

Michelangelo Signorile | Huffington Post | January 18, 2013

If Manti Teo is gay, I’m worried about him. If the Notre Dame linebacker at the center of the “girlfriend hoax” story indeed constructed an elaborate cover story for his gay closet, as so many gay men do in worlds that demand they be heterosexual, the emotional jolt of humiliation and embarrassment at being exposed will be overwhelming. We’ve seen too many young people, particularly with backgrounds like Te’o’s, growing up in the conservative, anti-gay Mormon church, pushed against the wall by homophobia and going to extreme lengths in denying their homosexuality, sometimes even harming themselves.

Cyd Zielger at Outsports was among the first to raise the possibility that Teo is gay, as the question exploded on social media. Ziegler came on my radio program yesterday and explained that sports writers were calling him asking if it was a possibility, trying to figure out what would drive someone to engage in such an elaborate hoax — if indeed T’eo was in on it. Teo and Notre Dame have said he was not involved and was the vicitim of a cruel hoax in which he was led to believe a woman he never met but had an online relationship with for years actually existed, got in a car accident, was eventually discovered to have leukemia and died. But too many strands of the story don’t add up if T’eo was the victim of a hoax perpetrated by others. Even if he was not in on it, he appears to have lied at the very least, having said he had met the woman.

If Te’o were gay, why would a closeted gay man go to such extremes? I asked the question on my radio program yesterday and the phones lit up with gay men who’d done exactly the same thing, or were still engaged in it. Living in conservative parts of the country or working in professions in which they believe they’d be fired if it became known they are gay, they construct elaborate stories of girlfriends or wives who never quite make it to company functions — or who do, but are really good friends who stand in as girifriends or wives. (One of those “fake-date” women called the show too).

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Speculation Over Manti Te’o’s Sexuality Grows

EDGE Boston | January 17, 2013

Being gay (or not) is the speculation of the Zeitgeist, so it isn’t surprising
to see rumors of Manti Te’o sexuality going viral.

The story broke late
yesterday when the website Deadspin reported that Manti Te’o inspirational story was a hoax.

The story instantly became a hot topic on morning talk shows and radio
stations, with many speculating on whether Manti Te’o was a victim or a
perpetrator.

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Manti Te’o Gay? Girlfriend Hoax Leads To Speculation On Sexuality Of Notre Dame Star

Huffington Post | January 17, 2013

The bombshell exposed Wednesday by Deadspin reporters rocked the sporting world with revelations of an elaborate hoax involving Notre Dame star linebacker Manti Te’o and the tragic passing of his girlfriend, Lennay Kekua. As Deadspin revealed, she never existed. In the aftermath, Te’o has claimed he was the victim of a hoax, but the bizarre tale has led some to wonder if Te’o was attempting to hide a different secret–his sexuality.

On The LaVar Arrington Show, Arrington, a former NFL player, and co-host Chad Dukes referenced the possibility of Te’o being closeted as they tried to figure out what possible motivation could have led him to participate in or fall for such a hoax.

“Let’s hypothesize, he’s gay,” said Dukes. “He is a star football, college football player, with beautiful chicks surrounding him, propositioning him all the time with all kinds of media asking him ‘Are you dating chicks? Do you have a girlfriend?’ all the time.”

Arrington responded, “Is that the only sensible way of looking at this?”

“If he’s in on it, I can’t.. I don’t.. maybe there is other reasons but it makes a lot of sense,” answered Dukes.

CLICK HERE to listen to a portion of the radio segment.

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“Dead Girlfriend” Hoax Has People Asking If Linebacker Manti Te’o Is Gay

Dan Avery | Queerty | January 17, 2013

Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o had one of the most heartbreaking  stories in sports:  In the span of six hours, he learned about  the death of his grandmother, Annette Santiago, and then of the death of his  girlfriend, Lennay Kekua. After getting the terrible news, though, he went  out and led his team to a surprise 20-3 victory against Michigan State.

In articles and testimonies in the months that followed, Te’o spoke of his  meeting Kekua, of her bravery in the face of death, letters she wrote as  her leukemia progressed.

On Wednesday, however, the sports site Deadspin discovered Te’o’s story of a dead girlfriend was a complete  fabrication. Lennay Kekua never met Te’o and she never died. From all accounts,  she never existed.

On Thursday, Cyd Zeigler Jr of OutSports reported  on growing rumors that Te’o might have faked the relationship to cover up his  homosexuality.

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