Tyler Clementi's Roommate Tried to Apologize

But the Rutgers freshman likely never saw texts before suicide
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 13, 2011 4:56 PM CDT
Tyler Clementi's Roommate Tried to Apologize
This June 2010 photo shows Tyler Clementi hugging a fellow student during his 2010 graduation from Ridgewood High School in Ridgewood, N.J.   (AP Photo/Ridgewood Patch, Sam Fran Scavuzzo, File)

New texts involving the suicide of Rutgers freshman Tyler Clementi have been made public, including this one from roommate Dhuran Ravi: "I’ve known you were gay and I have no problem with it," he wrote. "I don’t want your freshman year to be ruined because of a petty misunderstanding, it’s adding to my guilt." The wrenching part is that Clementi probably never saw it, notes the New Jersey Star-Ledger. Minutes earlier, he had posted a note on Facebook saying he was leaving to jump off the George Washington Bridge.

Ravi is accused of using a webcam to spy on Clementi's encounter with another man, and the texts show he and Clementi didn't much like each other from the start.

  • From Clementi: "His (family) is sooo indian/ first gen americanish . . . just like . . . first son off to college . . . his rents defs owna dunkin (donuts)," he wrote to a friend.
  • From Ravi: "Most gay person I’ve ever seen."
  • Another of note, from Clementi, who had told his family he was gay before leaving for college: "It’s a good thing dad is ok w/it or I would be in serious trouble/ mom has basically completely rejected me."
Click to read more examples. (More Tyler Clementi stories.)

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