Catfish has become one of the biggest shows of 2013. The show allows two people meet in person who had an online romance. Usually, it does not go too well with one of the people pretending to be someone else. While, none of us will admit that it has ever happened to us, Chargers linebacker Manti Te’o got “catfished” in front of the whole world.
Believing he was talking to a beautiful girl named Lennay Kekua, Te’o would constantly mention her in interviews. He was the leader of the Notre Dame defense and he was considered one of the best prospects in this year’s NFL draft. The Hawaiian native said the pair bonded over their strict Samoan beliefs, they would even pray together over the phone. Kekua told Te’o that she was battling terminal cancer and having him there helped her get through it. She even told hi that she had been in a major car accident when she was driving to go see him that left her “on the brink of death”. It was allegedly Te’o’s voice that gave her the strength to live until she finally met her end. Just hours after he got the news that his grandmother had passed. Hours later, he led Notre Dame to an upset victory over Michigan State.
Deadspin received a tip that this whole story was a huge lie and that Kekua was really a man that Te’o had met previously. Turns out, it was a hoax. The person behind the social media profiles was a 22-year-old man named Ronaiah Tuiasosopo who created accounts under the name Lennay Kekua. He took pictures off a girl’s account who he attended high school with, but she had no idea that this was going on. The next question was did Te’o know or was he duped just like the rest of us? Many who knew Tuiasosopo believed that Te’o was involved in the hoax as a way to get sympathy from Heisman voters. Notre Dame’s athletic director Jack Swarbrick tearfully defended the linebacker in a press conference.
Whether you believed that Te’o was in on the joke or not, everyone had a good laugh at this story. He did not win the Heisman trophy and Notre Dame got demolished in the BCS Bowl by Alabama. After the season was over, Te’o and his family went on Katie Couric’s talk show to share his side of the story. He has since moved on from the incident getting drafted in the second round by the San Diego Chargers. He has been virtually unnoticeable in the NFL which is probably just the way he wants it.
