Tomorrow, Manti Te’o’s interview with Katie Couric will air on her talk show Katie, and already people are analyzing and speculating over Te’o’s admission to lying in order to maintain the story involving his deceased ‘girlfriend’ Lennay Kekua, who never actually existed.
More information is steadily surfacing surrounding the Notre Dame football star’s elaborate story since it broke on Deadspin.com last week, but not much solid truth has become clear in regards to what really went on. In a preview of the interview released today, Te’o says that he received a call on December 6 from a woman claiming to be the real Kekua, who he had believed died from leukemia on September 12. According to Te’o, not until this phone call did he purposefully maintain a story that he knew was false. Te’o the “stuck to the script,” even though he was aware something was wrong. The phone call occurred just two days before Te’o was scheduled to appear on national TV as a Heisman Trophy candidate, and in his defense, he asks Couric to put herself in his situation. Further, he insists that although his girlfriend ended up being fake, his inspirational story of playing through emotional distress was real and not a ploy for attention.
But it seems the more is uncovered, the more elaborate and confusing Te’o’s situation becomes. As of now, an aspiring California singer and acquaintance of Te’o, Ronaiah Tuiasosopo is believed to be responsible for creating the hoax, by inventing Kekua’s social media profiles in order to get attention from athletes and celebrities. In an interview with ESPN, Te’o claimed that he received a Twitter message from Tuiasosopo apologizing for the entire situation, but Tuiasosopo has yet to admit publicly to any involvement in the story And since news of the hoax broke, Diane O’Meara came forward as the face used for Kekua’s fake Twitter account. O’Meara said she’s never spoken to Te’o.
Te’o’s parents accompanied him during their appearance with Couric, and his father asserts that Te’o is “not a liar, he’s a kid.” Watch the full interview when it airs Thursday on ABC.
