The bizarre story of Manti Te'o and the fake girlfriend hoax perpetrated on the Notre Dame linebacker just continues to get weirder. The first questions on everyone's minds were: Was Te'o an unwitting victim, as he claimed? Or was he complicit in the prank? But now some are suggesting yet another possibility to the story: Did Te'o, a devout Mormon, invent his "girlfriend" to cover up his homosexuality from his teammates and friends?
Since news broke of the fake girlfriend hoax, Te'o has been maintaining a low profile, avoiding media, and only releasing a statement calling the situation "incredibly embarrassing." Various questions still remain regarding Te'o's timeline of events and exactly when he discovered his girlfriend was nothing more than fake Internet persona.
Now some, like Chad Dukes, co-host of The LaVar Arrington Show, are saying the best explanation for why the linebacker's story is so entangled and strange, or why he would fall for such a hoax, is because he could be a closeted homosexual.
"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."
Former NFL player 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," replied Dukes.
Clay Travis of Outkick The Coverage came to a similar conclusion, writing that the hoax originating in Te'o's desire to remain hidden in the closet "is actually the only story that makes any sense at all."
"And even if it's true, Te'o will probably deny it because, unfortunately, football players aren't exactly the most welcoming of homosexuality," noted Travis.
Before Deadspin broke the news that Te'o's girlfriend "Lennay Kekua" never existed, Te'o's story was billed as one of the most inspirational narratives in college sports. A finalist for the Heisman Trophy, Te'o lead his team to a 20-3 victory over Michigan State just hours after learning his girlfriend died of leukemia and that his grandmother died as well.
A writer at OutSports, Cyd Zeigler Jr., addressed questions about to the true nature of Te'o's hoax story, and about speculation that he was possibly gay.
"We've seen rumors and heard stories about countless athletes in the past. But not since Troy Aikman have I been bombarded on email, text, Twitter and phone calls about the sexual orientation of any athlete the way I was today about Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o," wrote Zeigler Jr.
Slade Sohmer at HyperVocal also commented on Te'o's potential motivations for creating a fake girlfriend.
"A devout Mormon at a Catholic school, a rugged football player - these are communities that openly reject homosexuality, some of the last remaining vestiges of the decaying closet," wrote Sohmer.
Dukes, Travis and Sohmer all make solid points. Can you think of one openly gay player that has ever played in the NFL? Or in the NBA or MLB?
Te'o found out his girlfriend wasn't real on Dec. 6, according to Notre Dame's timeline of events. However, in a Dec. 8 interview with an Indiana TV station, Te'o said, "I really got hit with cancer. I lost both my grandparents an my girlfriend to cancer." Then again on Dec. 11, he spoke about his girlfriend in a newspaper interview, ABC News notes.
According to Notre Dame, Te'o notified them about the scam on Dec. 26.
Te'o's father, Brian Te'o, also made comments to a newspaper that his son's girlfriend had visited the linebacker in Hawaii.
Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick says the university has launched their own investigation.
"Our investigators, through their work, were able to discover online chatter between the perpetrators," Swarbrick said. "That was sort of the ultimate proof."
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