fooled

Manti Te'o's Girlfriend Was Hoax

The Notre Dame player didn't have a girlfriend die before BCS.

He fooled us all. Well-known Notre Dame football player Manti Te'o went through a public tragedy this season when his grandmother and girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, died within six hours of each other. He was hailed for bravely still deciding to play for his team in the BCS championship. But, according to an investigation by Deadspin, the story that moved the sports world to tears is false. Te'o's grandmother did die, but, despite coverage in The New York Times, Sports Illustrated, the Associated Press, and a touching interview he did with ESPN on his girlfriend's tragic struggle with leukemia, there's no evidence she ever existed. Deadspin found no record of Lennay Kekua's death, nor a student by that name at Stanford, where he said she attended, and the picture of her was taken off a Facebook account of a woman who says she's never met Te'o. Well, this is awkward.