I have a message for all of you skeptics out there: Back off of Manti Te’o!
We’re all a little confused about his “Catfish-esque” dilemma involving an imaginary girlfriend and her “favorite cousin” who just happens to be the person who created and executed the entire hoax.
VIDEO: It’s Finally Here! Manti Te’o Comes Clean On Katie Couric Show!
And just like the rest of the nation, I’m questioning whether Te’o could have played a role in all of this, and if so, what his motives were.
I even suggested that Te’o could be gay. That the imaginary girlfriend was a diversion from the fact that he was embarrassed to be an openly gay football player. That it could possibly ruin his draft status. And the lie grew so big that it snowballed out of control and he had to kill her off.
Yep. I was convinced.
But when I watched a fragile, unsuspecting Te’o being aggressively interviewed by Katie Couric, it started to dawn on me that anything is possible. And that this, yes, even this elaborate hoax could be true.
It wasn’t the tears from Te’o and his parents that swayed my opinion. It wasn’t even Couric’s insensitive, subjective and interrogative delivery. But watching Te’o made me realize that here is a young man who developed an emotional bond with someone over the internet and the sheer embarrassment of never seeing her made him lie…just a bit. It was probably his first love…puppy love.
And haven’t most boys been there?
When Katie Couric asked the burning question that even I wanted to know the answer to…about him not being with other girls who were readily available to a star football player…Te’o explained that he and Lennay had so many similarities that all the other girls were obsolete.
And is that too hard to believe? When you find someone who is both Polynesian and Mormon and who understands your culture, don’t you stick with them?
Couric, for one, couldn’t believe it.
Then there was the time Couric asked Te’o if the two ever video chatted. Te’o informed her that they did try to FaceTime several times, but all he saw on his end was a black screen.
“Did you think that was a little weird?” Couric asked…sarcastically.
No. No…he didn’t. And neither do I. Computers and electronics have a nasty vendetta against me. Seriously, they hate me. So the possibility that someone could see me and I couldn’t see them on my end is perfectly plausible. But again…Couric wasn’t buying it.
And then the phone records came about. Couric and Te’o talked about the many nights that he and Lennay spent chatting and probably making kissy noises into the phone and talking about Hawaiian names for their future kids and falling asleep and waking up and smiling so hard they thought their cheeks would fall off.
There were the records. And there was Couric, not believing that anyone could spend that much time on the phone.
Katie, were you EVER a teenager? Or ever in love? Did you ever have a high school or college boyfriend? Or were you too cool and classy to wrap your finger around the phone cord and whisper sweet nothings in the receiver. Katie, oh Katie…where is your soul! Where did your childhood go!
And then there was the lie that broke the camel’s back. When Te’o told Couric that he had indeed lied to his father about seeing Lennay when they were both supposedly in Hawaii at the same time, she just couldn’t take it.
Te’o told his father that he had planned to meet with his love, but when Lennay basically stood him up, he couldn’t face his father and spill the embarrassing beans. Instead he did what every young man would do. He embellished to avoid the questions…and to gain the approval of his dad.
And men…please feel free to weigh in. But haven’t you all at one point kinda-sorta-maybe-definitely lied to your boys or your parents because you were either too embarrassed that you didn’t (do whatever it is you planned on doing), or because you didn’t want to be the guy who got stood up by a girl that you really like?
And again…Couric couldn’t fathom. But then again she’s never been a young man.
But hey…I guess at the end of the day there are still too many gaps in the story that it’s hard to say for sure what happened. And for that reason, you still have your skeptical Katie Couric mugs on.
But let’s just all back off of Te’o for a bit. It’s looking like the poor boy got “Catfish’d” for real and the “feelings, the pain, and the sorrow” are just too fresh. And if he was in on the hoax, that means there’s a bigger issue at hand that we don’t need to criticize him about. That means he would need help. And we don’t ridicule those who need our help.
So cut it out! Let the man be! And if you don’t believe that someone could be so naive for one year, just go watch Catfish on MTV and you’ll SEE the dangers of not using Google as an investigative tool.
You live and you learn. And then you get yo ass off the internet.
Christina Coleman
Christina Coleman is the News and Politics Editor at GlobalGrind. Prior to this she was a science writer. That explains her NASA obsession. She crushes on Anthony Bourdain. Nothing explains that.
Follow her on Twitter @ChrissyCole
SOURCE: Buzzfeed
