Posted on 01/31/2013 4:33:58 PM PST by Colofornian
Of course it ended in a cliffhanger -- and also raised more questions than it put to bed.
As the Manti Te'o girlfriend hoax saga entered its third week, and with America seemingly desperate to finally look away, Part I of Dr. Phil McGraw's two-part grilling of admitted hoax mastermind Ronaiah Tuiasosopo turned out to be largely an appetizer for Part 2.
The Dr. Phil show ended Thursday with McGraw confronting Tuiasosopo about the latter's assertion he was the actual voice of Lennay Kekua. Kekua is the character Tuiasosopo created and Te'o purportedly fell in love with, through on-line contact and phone calls, during his senior season as an All-America linebacker at Notre Dame.
Thursday the story line veered as far from the football field as it has since Deadspin.com first introduced it on Jan. 16 with a media feeding frenzy following. Deadspin also strongly suggested Te'o was a part of the deception, a notion Tuiasosopo became the latest to vehemently deny.
Te'o had provided Katie Couric tapes of voice mails from the Kekua character, which Couric played on air when he was a guest on Couric's own daytime talk show, Katie, on Jan. 24.
The New York Post last week reported that a female cousin of Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, Tino Tuiasosopo, was the person who was Kekua's voice in the phone calls. Tuiasosopo's lawyer, however, told the New York Daily News last week that his client was the voice of Kekua.
A week later, McGraw played the same tapes, then told Tuiasosopo, "I think it's important for people to see the voice control and see you speak in the female voice."
"I can't even if I tried," Tuiasosopo responded. "There's a whole lot that went into pushing me to do that, to go to that extreme consistently. And for me to just do it like -- can you do the voice? -- Even if I try, it just doesn't come out right."
McGraw then told Tuiasosopo that he contacted private contractors that do voice work for the FBI and the Secret Service.
"I gave them that voice mail," McGraw said. "And I gave them your voice. And I had them do a highly scientific spectra analysis of our voice and score them both. They looked at everything from voice intonation to tonal qualities."
The voices are scored on a scale from 0 to 100, with anything 60 and above constituting a match. Tuiasosopo's voice scored a 16 in the analysis.
"They said the chance that you were the person on that voicemail is like 1 in 10 million," McGraw said, "that it is not you, not even possible. You're telling me that you're telling the truth and I'm telling you that the best scientific analysis in the world is saying that it is not. I say, 'Just do the voice.' "
"I've never done it in front of people," Tuiasosopo said. "Ever single time I've ever spoken that voice, I was never by people. I was in dark room away from people."
Part II, which airs Friday at 3 p.m., locally on WSBT-TV, picks up at that point.
Among the other ground covered in Thursday's show:
* Tuiasosopo denied he assumed the Kekua identity to get money from Te'o.
"I didn't ask (Te'o) him for anything," he said. "I didn't ask him for money. I didn't ask him for, not even an autograph. I didn't ask for anything.
"I never wanted anything, and that's what really hurt. To read all these different reports about how I had done this, not just to maliciously attack and hurt him but to read that I was trying to do it to take money from him. He knows for a fact that that's not true."
* Tuiasosopo said the only time he met Te'o in person was the weekend of the Nov. 24 ND-USC game in Los Angeles, and that he almost told the linebacker the truth at that meeting.
"I met him at their hotel, at the team hotel," he said. "Myself and my little sister went to visit him. I wanted to tell him everything right then and there, and that's the truth. But shortly after, his uncle and a lot of his uncle's friends and some other family, they all came in. I was just like, 'it wasn't the right time.' "
*Tuiasosopo said he developed romantic feelings for Te'o.
"Of course, it's very shameful and very painful to even talk about," Tuiasosopo said. "Even now, it's hard to talk about. But the truth of it is, is that happened. I grew feelings. I grew emotions that, sooner or later, I couldn't control anymore. And it just lingered on.
"When I tried to end things, I tried every other way to end this. I tried this lie and this lie and this lie, but nothing would work."
When asked by McGraw if Tuiasosopo is gay, the latter responded, "Honestly if you look at this situation and look at everything that I've been through, of course, you'd say, I would say, 'Yeah, I'm gay.'
"But honestly, I'm so confused. I'm so lost and I'm just finding me. And this whole experience and all these problems are introduc-ing me to myself through everything.
"But what you know is you did have romantic feelings for another man?" McGraw pressed.
"Yes," Tuiasosopo said. "You've heard of recovering drug addicts. It takes a lot of courage to stand and say that. To recover from homosexuality and this type of thing -- not just that -- but coming back to your real life, as hard of a task it is, I'm going to do all that I can to live right."
* Why did Tuiasosopo choose cancer as the vehicle to end the relationship?
"There were a lot of reasons why cancer played into this," he said. "Again, when people were saying it was a cruel joke -- Cruel true. Joke never.
"It was never intended as a joke. It was never to be funny, but in this situation, I was just trying to do everything to end it, 'cause I knew no matter what, it just wasn't right and it was never going to be."
* Tuiasosopo went into a winding story when asked why he chose a time frame so close to Te'o's grandma's death to kill off the Lennay character. He said Te'o and Kekua had broken up and were arguing when Tuiasosopo said Te'o told Kekua of the grandmother's passing.
"He went on further and said, 'No I don't need you,' " Tuiasosopo related.
"Was this retaliatory? Were you angry? Is this why you killed her off?" McGraw said.
"I've given so much into this, and I realized right then in that moment that I poured so much into Lennay that I, myself, wasn't getting nothing, and look what I was left with," Tuiasosopo said.
"I was crying that morning. I was hurt emotionally. Just all kinds of things just took over. And so right then and there, I made the decision I can't do this Lennay thing anymore, and I ended it."
Tuiasosopo said he contacted Te'o as Lennay (on Dec. 6) to further the truth.
"I felt like even if we ended this and we moved on with our lives and this wasn't brought back up and the truth wasn't known, that we wouldn't be truly moving on," Tuiasosopo said. "It just wasn't the truth, Right then and there I knew I needed to come clean and make everything right."
" 'Catfish' refers to people who assume an identity and mislead them and defraud them," McGraw said. "Catfish, they never come clean. They never connect and try to square things up. But you did. Why did you need to come clean?
"As a person," Tuiasosopo responded, "I just felt like in my own life, before I could do anything or go any further I had to come clean."
Staff writer Eric Hansen: ehansen@sbtinfo.com 574-235-6112
Well; history HAS recorded his words; as well as his contemporaries on a LOT of things.
Want to read some of them??
So true!
We have books to GIVE away!!
That's because they have no idea what the BIBLE says!!
Genesis 18:20-21
20. Then the LORD said, "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous
21. that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know."
Genesis 19:4-7
4. Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom--both young and old--surrounded the house.
5. They called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them."
6. Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him
7. and said, "No, my friends. Don't do this wicked thing.
Isaiah 3:9 The look on their faces testifies against them; they parade their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to them! They have brought disaster upon themselves.
2 Peter 2:13b Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you.
Ezekiel 16:49-50
49. "`Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.
50. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.
1. But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them--bringing swift destruction on themselves.
2. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.
3. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.
4. For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment;
5. if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others;
6. if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly;
7. and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men
8. (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)--
9. if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment.
10. This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the sinful nature and despise authority. Bold and arrogant, these men are not afraid to slander celestial beings;
11. yet even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not bring slanderous accusations against such beings in the presence of the Lord.
12. But these men blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like brute beasts, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like beasts they too will perish.
13. They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you.
But there IS hope!!!
1 Corinthians 6:9-11
9. Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived:
Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders
10. nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
11. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
If you could NOT change, you would be in most pitiful shape...
MOM!!!
You have GOT to believe me THIS time!
I was out in the woods - yeah;
and I was running for home - yeah...
and then I came upon this two, uh two; uh... PERSONAGES!! _yeah; that's it...
And they told me...
BOY!
I've had enOUGH of your lies for one day. Do your chores NOW or get a GOOD thrashing!!!
I hate when that attitude shows up; especially here on FR; where most all kinds of views are permitted...
"Now if any of you will deny the plurality of wives, and continue to do so, I promise that you will be damned;
and I will go still further and say, take this revelation, or any other revelation that the Lord has given,
and deny it in your feelings, and I promise that you will be damned.
Brigham Young - JoD 3:266 (July 14, 1855)
Show me BIGOT!!
Stay tuned...
(Watch for that MORMON tactic to appear soon...)
MAybe so; but do NOT be expecting to find any of our most precious doctrines and practices in it.
They are tucked away in OTHER Scriptures we hold dear!
Nothin' about that in the article, which I think is the point of the poster I replied to. The need to make it so appears like an obsession or fixation - and not a healthy one.
Wow! Such anger! Seems you are a follower of Mormonism - is that correct? Whatever you are, an apology to Colofornian is in order.
Maybe not; but the info IS available; and it can pretty well explain some of "this juicy thread about a fellow"'s actions.
Oh?
I merely bring out the EVIDENCE.
People can form their OWN opinion as to whether it fits.
I'm sure you are not against more INFO being provided; right?
Just why do you hateful ANTI's seem to think that any pure soul who detects bigotry towards MORMONism is neccessarily a MORMON?
If you wuzn't such a bigot; you could see the hatefulness of your position.
MORMONs have never done nuttin' to NOBODY!
--MormonDude(When would be a good time for a couple of our well trained young folks to come to your humble home and speak to you and your loving family about the Restored Gospel®?)
Good grief, could all you anti-mormonism bigots please give it a rest?
Did you ever consider for a moment that Te’o is gay? The whole fake girlfriend story was a front.
Take a long and reflective look yourself and ask if this is effective or healthy. Whatever your rationalization, I'm not going to encourage it.
Pax tecum.
>>>The whole fake girlfriend story was a front.
That’s a possibility. But, I don’t think it was knowingly a front. He may have used “her” for this without knowing it was a fake.
Yeah!!
What he said!
We can barely get on a porch these days without the folks there already knowing what we're up to!
Ma'am; we ONLY do this 6 days a week; for about a year.
Then we go back to a normal life. (As normal as it gets for a MORMON.)
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