SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Notre Dame says a story about Manti Te'o's girlfriend dying, which he said inspired him to play better as he helped the Fighting Irish get to the Discover BCS National Championship, turned out to be a hoax apparently perpetrated against the linebacker.
“
To realize that I was the victim of what was apparently someone's sick joke and constant lies was, and is, painful and humiliating.
”-- Manti Te'o statement
The university issued a news release Wednesday after Deadspin.com reported it could find no record of Lennay Kekua existing.
According to Deadspin, the only photos that have been found online that identified Kekua are actually pictures of another 22-year-old woman. That woman, not named in the report, told Deadspin one of those photos likely was shared by Ronaiah Tuiasosopo.
“
I want to stress, as someone who has probably been as engaged in this as anyone in the past couple of weeks, that nothing about what I have learned has shaken my faith in Manti Te'o one iota.
”-- Jack Swarbrick
Friends and relatives of Tuiasosopo, a high school classmate of the 22-year-old woman, told Deadspin they believe Tuiasosopo created Kekua. Kekua does not have a death certificate, Deadspin reported. Stanford, where she reportedly went to school, has no record of anybody by that name.
So apparently this guys GirlFriend never existed and he didnt know that... Bullshit.
SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Notre Dame says a story about Manti Te'o's girlfriend dying, which he said inspired him to play better as he helped the Fighting Irish get to the Discover BCS National Championship, turned out to be a hoax apparently perpetrated against the linebacker.
“
To realize that I was the victim of what was apparently someone's sick joke and constant lies was, and is, painful and humiliating.
”-- Manti Te'o statementThe university issued a news release Wednesday after Deadspin.com reported it could find no record of Lennay Kekua existing.
According to Deadspin, the only photos that have been found online that identified Kekua are actually pictures of another 22-year-old woman. That woman, not named in the report, told Deadspin one of those photos likely was shared by Ronaiah Tuiasosopo.
“
I want to stress, as someone who has probably been as engaged in this as anyone in the past couple of weeks, that nothing about what I have learned has shaken my faith in Manti Te'o one iota.
”-- Jack SwarbrickFriends and relatives of Tuiasosopo, a high school classmate of the 22-year-old woman, told Deadspin they believe Tuiasosopo created Kekua. Kekua does not have a death certificate, Deadspin reported. Stanford, where she reportedly went to school, has no record of anybody by that name.
So apparently this guys GirlFriend never existed and he didnt know that... Bullshit.