5 ms·

In case you missed it and feel like reading a really bizarre story about fake girlfriends, this account of Notre Dame football player Manti Te'o faking the deat

In case you missed it and feel like reading a really bizarre story about fake girlfriends, this account of Notre Dame football player Manti Te'o faking the death of his non-existent girlfriend is just too weird -- http://deadspin.com/5976517/ http://deadspin.com/5976517/

unreal37 14y ago
He claims he was duped. There's not evidence he faked the death or knew his girlfriend was fake.
- swang 14y ago
  Did you read the article? It is pretty obvious he perpetuated the hoax or lied about activities involving her to media. Either he is really naive or a liar. He even continued talking about her as a real person to the media even after he found out it was a "hoax" and reported it to coaches 3 weeks later.
  - ernestipark 14y ago
    It is a possibility that he was just embarrassed. I would be..
    - swang 14y ago
      Let's assume that Deadspin didn't trace it back eventually to a close mutual friend of his. So he's _REALLY_ embarrassed because someone online pulled a pretty hardcore prank on him. Yet he still continues to act as though she was a real person even after he found out about it? Because if that is true, it makes it seem to the rest of the sports world that he's just trying to garner sympathy to win the Heisman. That kind of makes him even more scummier: the fact that even though he knows that he got pranked, he continues to perpetuate the lie. Edit: for more context about it, read this: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/college-football/news/20130117/teo-girlfriend-hoax.ap/?sct=hp_t2_a2&eref=sihp http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/college-football/news/20130...
      - shock-value 14y ago
        Apparently the guy who it got traced backed to 1) wasn't actually a close friend, just an acquaintance the player met relatively recently (after being contacted by the "fake" woman), and 2) had pulled similar stunts on other people in the past. So it definitely isn't cut and dry, and I'm leaning towards extreme naivety on Te'o's part at this point (and possibly some embellishment to cover up embarrassment), although it definitely is a bizarre story either way.
- theycallmemorty 14y ago
  He may have been duped initially, but he has claimed to have met the girl on multiple occasions. The best case scenario for his credibility is that he was fooled, felt like an idiot and kept lying to prevent everyone from finding out.
DanBC2 14y ago
The ultimate story is of the Anandtech forums, where someone invented a woman, sockpuppeted her on the forums, romanced her on the forums, got married, had a child (or she already had one?) and then killed them both off in a road traffic accident. (http://web.archive.org/web/20010624115154/http://forums.anandtech.com/arcmessageview.cfm?catid=38&threadid=102468 http://web.archive.org/web/20010624115154/http://forums.anan...) (http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=275172 http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=275172) (http://oro.open.ac.uk/647/ http://oro.open.ac.uk/647/) Fakery on the Internet is fascinating and very very common. People fake having cancer; people fake their own situation; people fake their friends. The movie Catfish is a nice exploration of one person's fakery. (It would have been easy to say "OMG SHE'S MENTAL LOL" but it's a surprisingly gentle confrontation and you end up somewhat sympathetic to her.) Here are some other notable fakes: SEXTORTION AT EISENHOWER HIGH (http://www.gq.com/news-politics/big-issues/200907/wisconsin-high-school-sex-scandal-online-facebook?printable=true&currentPage=all http://www.gq.com/news-politics/big-issues/200907/wisconsin-...) > Last year, an awkward high school senior in Wisconsin went online, passed himself off as a flirtatious female student, and conned dozens of his male classmates into e-mailing him sexually explicit images of themselves. What he did next will likely send him to jail for a very long time DAVE ON WHEELS (http://betabeat.com/2012/10/meet-hunter-dunn-the-young-man-whose-identity-was-stolen-for-the-dave-on-wheels-hoax/ http://betabeat.com/2012/10/meet-hunter-dunn-the-young-man-w...) > Followers of “Dave” on sites like Twitter and The Chive thought they were reading posts from a deaf young man suffering from cerebral palsy who had worked tirelessly to overcome his obstacles, all the while maintaining a positive outlook and relatably wry sense of humor. KAYCEE NICOLE / DEBBIE SWENSON (http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2001/may/28/internetnews.mondaymediasection http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2001/may/28/internetnew...) > For two years, a young American girl recounted her brave struggle against leukaemia in a daily online diary. This month she died. Thousands of web-users sent condolences. But [...] (http://web.archive.org/web/20050115092141/http://www.rootnode.org/article.php?sid=26 http://web.archive.org/web/20050115092141/http://www.rootnod...) (http://www.metafilter.com/7878/The-Kaycee-Nicole-Swensen-Faq http://www.metafilter.com/7878/The-Kaycee-Nicole-Swensen-Faq) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaycee_Nicole_Swenson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaycee_Nicole_Swenson) THE LYING DISEASE - in which a cancer patient is befriended by another cancer patient, who is faking cancer. (Happens three times.) (http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/the-lying-disease/Content?oid=15337239 http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/the-lying-disease/Content...) WARRIOR ELI - a ten year hoax (http://gawker.com/5914621/the-long-fake-life-of-js-dirr-a-decade%20long-internet-cancer-hoax-unravels http://gawker.com/5914621/the-long-fake-life-of-js-dirr-a-de...)

unreal37 14y ago

He claims he was duped. There's not evidence he faked the death or knew his girlfriend was fake.

swang 14y ago
Did you read the article? It is pretty obvious he perpetuated the hoax or lied about activities involving her to media. Either he is really naive or a liar. He even continued talking about her as a real person to the media even after he found out it was a "hoax" and reported it to coaches 3 weeks later.
- ernestipark 14y ago
  It is a possibility that he was just embarrassed. I would be..
  - swang 14y ago
    Let's assume that Deadspin didn't trace it back eventually to a close mutual friend of his. So he's _REALLY_ embarrassed because someone online pulled a pretty hardcore prank on him. Yet he still continues to act as though she was a real person even after he found out about it? Because if that is true, it makes it seem to the rest of the sports world that he's just trying to garner sympathy to win the Heisman. That kind of makes him even more scummier: the fact that even though he knows that he got pranked, he continues to perpetuate the lie. Edit: for more context about it, read this: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/college-football/news/20130117/teo-girlfriend-hoax.ap/?sct=hp_t2_a2&eref=sihp http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/college-football/news/20130...
    - shock-value 14y ago
      Apparently the guy who it got traced backed to 1) wasn't actually a close friend, just an acquaintance the player met relatively recently (after being contacted by the "fake" woman), and 2) had pulled similar stunts on other people in the past. So it definitely isn't cut and dry, and I'm leaning towards extreme naivety on Te'o's part at this point (and possibly some embellishment to cover up embarrassment), although it definitely is a bizarre story either way.
theycallmemorty 14y ago
He may have been duped initially, but he has claimed to have met the girl on multiple occasions. The best case scenario for his credibility is that he was fooled, felt like an idiot and kept lying to prevent everyone from finding out.

DanBC2 14y ago

The ultimate story is of the Anandtech forums, where someone invented a woman, sockpuppeted her on the forums, romanced her on the forums, got married, had a child (or she already had one?) and then killed them both off in a road traffic accident. (http://web.archive.org/web/20010624115154/http://forums.anandtech.com/arcmessageview.cfm?catid=38&threadid=102468 http://web.archive.org/web/20010624115154/http://forums.anan...) (http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=275172 http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=275172) (http://oro.open.ac.uk/647/ http://oro.open.ac.uk/647/) Fakery on the Internet is fascinating and very very common. People fake having cancer; people fake their own situation; people fake their friends. The movie Catfish is a nice exploration of one person's fakery. (It would have been easy to say "OMG SHE'S MENTAL LOL" but it's a surprisingly gentle confrontation and you end up somewhat sympathetic to her.) Here are some other notable fakes: SEXTORTION AT EISENHOWER HIGH (http://www.gq.com/news-politics/big-issues/200907/wisconsin-high-school-sex-scandal-online-facebook?printable=true&currentPage=all http://www.gq.com/news-politics/big-issues/200907/wisconsin-...) > Last year, an awkward high school senior in Wisconsin went online, passed himself off as a flirtatious female student, and conned dozens of his male classmates into e-mailing him sexually explicit images of themselves. What he did next will likely send him to jail for a very long time DAVE ON WHEELS (http://betabeat.com/2012/10/meet-hunter-dunn-the-young-man-whose-identity-was-stolen-for-the-dave-on-wheels-hoax/ http://betabeat.com/2012/10/meet-hunter-dunn-the-young-man-w...) > Followers of “Dave” on sites like Twitter and The Chive thought they were reading posts from a deaf young man suffering from cerebral palsy who had worked tirelessly to overcome his obstacles, all the while maintaining a positive outlook and relatably wry sense of humor. KAYCEE NICOLE / DEBBIE SWENSON (http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2001/may/28/internetnews.mondaymediasection http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2001/may/28/internetnew...) > For two years, a young American girl recounted her brave struggle against leukaemia in a daily online diary. This month she died. Thousands of web-users sent condolences. But [...] (http://web.archive.org/web/20050115092141/http://www.rootnode.org/article.php?sid=26 http://web.archive.org/web/20050115092141/http://www.rootnod...) (http://www.metafilter.com/7878/The-Kaycee-Nicole-Swensen-Faq http://www.metafilter.com/7878/The-Kaycee-Nicole-Swensen-Faq) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaycee_Nicole_Swenson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaycee_Nicole_Swenson) THE LYING DISEASE - in which a cancer patient is befriended by another cancer patient, who is faking cancer. (Happens three times.) (http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/the-lying-disease/Content?oid=15337239 http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/the-lying-disease/Content...) WARRIOR ELI - a ten year hoax (http://gawker.com/5914621/the-long-fake-life-of-js-dirr-a-decade%20long-internet-cancer-hoax-unravels http://gawker.com/5914621/the-long-fake-life-of-js-dirr-a-de...)