IN THE AFTERMATH of the bombshell Deadspin story about Notre Dame football player Manti Te’o's dead girlfriend never existing (you really should read it), Notre Dame has released a statement saying Te’o was the victim of the hoax, not the perpetrator of it.
The school says they were informed about the hoax on St Stephen’s Day and implied that Te’o never knew that Lennay Kekua never existed. The school says the Te’os were victims of someone who “conspired with others to lead him to believe she had tragically died of leukemia.”
Deadspin reported that Lennay Kekua — Te’o's “girlfriend” who reportedly died of cancer in September of last year — was an online invention of a man Te’o knew named Ronaiah Tuiasosopo.
As Te’o led Notre Dame to an undefeated regular season, the story of his girlfriend’s death became a big deal nationally. SI, ESPN, CBS, and the New York Times all referenced her in stories.
Te’o himself spoke publicly about her repeatedly, claiming that they spoke on the phone at night when she was in the hospital.
The Deadspin story doesn’t directly say that Te’o knew Kekua didn’t exist, but it quotes a source who said there was an “80% chance” he was in on it. Here’s the full statement form Notre Dame:
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.
Read the full story on Deadspin
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