令美国人尴尬的蛮泰特欧女友丑闻

从昨晚开始，美国很多网站的头条不是奥巴马的限枪政策，不是阿姆斯特朗的禁药丑闻，也不是阿尔及利亚的人质危机，而是关于美国橄榄球明星蛮泰特欧（Manti Te'o）的女友Lennay Kekua 的新闻，因为这个在今年赛季表现极佳的夏威夷小伙子，不仅获全美大学橄榄球联赛的最高荣誉奖海斯曼奖提名，还曾有一个令美国人精神振奋的爱情故事：蛮泰特欧在去年的赛季中，六小时内接到了祖母和女友去世消息，女友甚至在死前鼓励他，希望他在赛场上表现勇猛。

这段凄婉的爱情故事，一度被媒体大肆渲染，令蛮泰特欧成为国家英雄。

但现在揭露出来的事实是，他交往一年的女友是现代版的皇帝新装，压根就不存在。

这可令求真求实的美国人难堪，如果连人都是假的，那么被煽起来的情又是什么？一些搞笑的美国人甚至创造了一个新词：Te’oing，来概括蛮泰特欧的行为。

现在蛮泰特欧和他的球队正忙于熄火，纷纷发表声明。更多的人在追究，蛮泰特欧为何编造假女友，他到底是网恋的受害者，还是要隐瞒什么？有文章干脆点明了他可能是同志，为的是害怕自己的性取向不见容于追求男性气质的橄榄球界。

果真如此的话，这就要轮到美国橄榄球界检讨了，耍枪弄炮的美国军队都接受同志了，冲冲撞撞的橄榄球运动是否也应该为同志开禁？

另有一篇文章说，如果蛮泰特欧是同志，他编造女友的行为还容易被人理解，大家也准备原谅他接受他，如果他不是同志，那编造之事就难以说清了。

可以说，蛮泰特欧此刻面临的危机，不仅是个人危机，对美国橄榄球界也是一个考验。


Here is Manti Te’o's Statement:

This is incredibly embarrassing to talk about, but over an extended period of time, I developed an emotional relationship with a woman I met online. We maintained what I thought to be an authentic relationship by communicating frequently online and on the phone, and I grew to care deeply about her. To realize that I was the victim of what was apparently someone’s sick joke and constant lies was, and is, painful and humiliating. It further pains me that the grief I felt and the sympathies expressed to me at the time of my grandmother’s death in September were in any way deepened by what I believed to be another significant loss in my life. I am enormously grateful for the support of my family, friends and Notre Dame fans throughout this year. To think that I shared with them my happiness about my relationship and details that I thought to be true about her just makes me sick. I hope that people can understand how trying and confusing this whole experience has been. In retrospect, I obviously should have been much more cautious. If anything good comes of this, I hope it is that others will be far more guarded when they engage with people online than I was. Fortunately, I have many wonderful things in my life, and I’m looking forward to putting this painful experience behind me as I focus on preparing for the NFL Draft.


Here’s Norte Dame’s Statement:

On Dec. 26, Notre Dame coaches were informed by Manti Te’o and his parents that Manti had been the victim of what appears to be a hoax in which someone using the fictitious name Lennay Kekua apparently ingratiated herself with Manti and then conspired with others to lead him to believe she had tragically died of leukemia. The University immediately initiated an investigation to assist Manti and his family in discovering the motive for and nature of this hoax. While the proper authorities will continue to investigate this troubling matter, this appears to be, at a minimum, a sad and very cruel deception to entertain its perpetrators.