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I just watched both segments of the first part of the “Good Morning America” interview with George Stephanopoulos and a few of Sterger’s statements deserve comment. If you’re wondering about my original take on the story, be sure to read “In defense of Jenn Sterger…”
“I didn’t want anything to do with it in 2008. I don’t want anything to do with it in 2010.”
If she didn’t want anything to do with it in 2010, why did she mention Favre’s advances to the editor of a sports gossip blog? As I outlined in the link above, when she spoke with Deadspin, she hadn’t yet landed her job on the now defunct “The Daily Line” and was probably uncertain where her media career was headed. If she had truly decided that she didn’t want the story to ever come out, she never would have brought it up to the editor of a sports blog.
“Whenever I would reply it was more so trying to figure out who I was interacting with. There was no actual, ‘Hey Jenn, it’s Brett.”
Is she serious? She’s expecting us to believe that she didn’t recognize Favre’s voice on her voicemails? Either it was Favre or someone doing a fantastic impression. Has anyone asked Frank Caliendo about his involvement? Or how about this guy?
This is the thing that has always struck me as odd about her story. She acts as if Favre’s advances were unwelcome, yet she admits that she sent multiple texts to him. She said his advances were “intimidating,” so why is she responding at all? Just block his number and move on.
Stephanopoulos must have had the same thought because in the key sequence of the interview, he eventually asked her, “Why answer?”
JS: Why answer? When all of this happened, I consulted several people and I said, ‘Hey this is the situation that is going on right now.’ And I said, ‘I really don’t know what to do.’ Every single one of them gave me the exact same answer. They said, ‘Jenn, do you like your job? Well if you like your job and want to keep it, I suggest that you just be quiet. Do your job.’”
GS: Leave it alone.
JS: Yeah, don’t complain.
Did you see what she did there? That’s a classic deflection. Stephanopoulos asked her about her reasoning for answering Favre’s texts in the first place, and she responded with a soliloquy about how she was asking her friends for advice and that they told her to “be quiet.”
Huh?
What does her advice-seeking have to do with her responding to Favre in the first place? ANSWER THE QUESTION!
Stephanopoulos must have some inside info, because he later asked her about a specific text that she sent Favre:
GS: Did you send him a text that said, “If this is you, smile at me.”
JS: No, I don’t really recall all of the texts. I don’t remember what was in them. I’m sorry.
Ah, well, that’s convenient. She remembers all sorts of details about how this whole thing started and how she deftly put together that her “secret” admirer was in fact Brett Favre, but she can’t remember if she sent him a text that asked him to smile at her. Her answer was evasive as well. First she says “no” but then she says she doesn’t recall.
The interview turned to Deadspin and how they got the texts and photos, and she still claims that she didn’t sell them. When Stephanopoulos asked if she had ever given the texts/photos to anyone, she responded, “I shared them with individuals when I was asking for advice, but that’s it.”
When “asking for advice,” is it really necessary to provide proof of Favre’s texts/photos? If that’s the case, she should seriously rethink who she goes to for advice. A friend would believe her story and not require that she send over all of her evidence in order to help.
When George Stephanopoulos asked if she owed anyone an apology, she replied, “I don’t think so. I didn’t really do anything wrong.”
She doesn’t think that actively texting a married man who is obviously interested her is wrong? She would have come off a lot better here if she had apologized to Favre’s wife, Deanna, for sending her husbands any texts at all.
I’ve decided that this is what really happened: Favre started texting Sterger and the two engaged in a flirtatious, if-this-is-you-smile-at-me-type relationship through text. After some time passed, Sterger decided that she didn’t want it to go any further and pulled away. Favre upped the ante with some pics of his junk, and she shared them with some friends for a laugh. That’s it, the texts eventually stopped. Two years later she stupidly mentions the interaction to Deadspin and the blog somehow acquires all the texts and photos (and voicemails!) from one of Sterger’s so-called “friends,” who totally threw Sterger under the bus for $12,000.
End of story. I hope.
See both segments of the first part of the Jenn Sterger interview after the jump.
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