Lennay Kekua Twitter: 'A Lot of Truths and Myths' Will be Answered; Manti Te'o Internet Hoax
New broke on Wednesday that Manti Te'o's alleged girlfriend did not die in September of leukemia and that the person attached to the photos news otulets used in their reports, a supposed Lennay Kekua, is not real. However, sources said Te'o' was the real victim in the scandal.
The girlfriend he was in love with, Kekua, was not a real person and there are no records of her death. The television news reports used photographs of a woman they identified as Kekua, but those were taken for a Facebook page of a 22-year-old California woman wo is still alive and who does not go under the name Lennay Kekua. The woman, who was shocked to find out she became the face of a supposed dead woman, spoke to Deadspin this week and said "that picture is a picture of me from my Facebook account." Click here to read all the details about the girlfriend hoax Te'o was involved in.
What is Te'o's involvement in the hoax and did he know about it? Here are the responses made so far, though so may sound conflicting.
Notre Dame spokesperson Dennis Brown confirmed that the school's coaches were informed of the hoax on Dec. 26. Notre Dame Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick said Wednesday night in a news conference that "Manti is the victim of that hoax and he will carry that with him for a while... [Lennay] roped him more and more into the trap."
Notre Dame put out a statement Wednesday night, reported by Fox News, saying that Te'o and his family were victimized by "someone using the fictitious name Lennay Kekua (who) apparently ingratiated herself with Manti and then conspired with others to lead him to believe she had tragically died of leukemia."
The news report added that a Twitter user claiming to be Kekua sent out a message late Wednesday saying that "a lot of truths and myths" will be addressed on her profile at 3 p.m. EST Thursday.
Te'o' put out his own statement on Wednesday, saying the scandal "is incredibly embarrassing to talk about" and claiming he had been tricked. He added that his relationship with Kennay was primarily a long-distance one.
"I developed an emotional relationship with a woman I met online," he said in a statement cited by ESPN.com. "We maintained what I thought to be an authentic relationship by communicating frequently online and on the phone, and I grew to care deeply about her. To realize that I was the victim of what was apparently someone's sick joke and constant lies was, and is painful and humiliating."
It is important to note that Te'o said, following Lennay's death, he sent flowers to her funeral. Additionally, South Bend Tribute reported that the two first met at a football game in California in 2009. Conflicting reports continue and check back for more details as they surface.