Hoax opens up questions
THE AMERICAN college football player at the centre of a deadgirlfriend hoax has told sports network ESPN the perpetrator has apologised for subjecting him to the bizarre episode. In an offcamera interview with ESPN, Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o said a Californian he met in November had called two days ago and confessed to the bizarre fabrication.
Te’o insisted he was never involved in the hoax, but admitted he lied to his father about meeting the woman face-to-face.
But Notre Dame’s athletic director, Jack Swarbrick, said during the taping of his weekly radio show that T’eo has to explain exactly how he was duped into an online relationship with a fictitious woman, Lennay Kekua, whose ‘‘death’’ was then faked by perpetrators of the scheme.
The story of her leukaemia, nearfatal car crash, Te’o’s loyalty and his inspirational on-field performance for a struggling team captivated sports fans across the nation before it was exposed as a fabrication.
Sceptics have questioned the versions of events laid out by Te’o and Notre Dame, wondering why the player never said the relationship was online, and why he waited almost three weeks to tell the school about being duped.
According to Notre Dame, Te’o received a call on December 6 from the girl he had only been in contact with by telephone and online, and whom he thought had died in September. After telling his family what happened while he was home in Hawaii for Christmas, he informed Notre Dame coaches on December 26.
Notre Dame said it hired investigators to look into Te’o’s claims and their findings showed he was the victim of an elaborate hoax.
Te’o released a statement on Thursday, soon after website Deadspin.com broke news of the scam, saying he had been humiliated and hurt by the ‘‘sick joke’’. But he has laid low since.
ESPN officials posted a photo on Twitter yesterday of reporter Jeremy Schapp with Te’o and his lawyer. Te’o has been working out at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, as he prepares for the NFL draft.
Swarbrick said earlier in the day that he believed Te’o would ultimately speak publicly. ‘‘We think it’s important and we’d like to see it happen sooner rather than later.’’ He said Te’o and his family had planned to go public with the story tomorrow.
‘‘Sometimes the best-laid plans don’t quite work, and this was an example of that. Because the family lost the opportunity in some ways to control the story,’’ he said. ‘‘It is in the Te’o family’s court. We are very much encouraging them.’’ Former NFL coach Tony Dungy, who mentored Michael Vick when he returned to the competition after doing prison time, had similar advice.
‘‘I don’t know the whole case but I always advise people to face up to it and just talk to people and say what happened,’’ Dungy said yesterday.
‘‘The truth is the best liberator, so that’s what I would do. And he’s going to get questioned a lot about it.’’ Te’o led a lightly regarded Fighting Irish team to a 12-0 regular season and the BCS title game, where they were routed 42- 14 by Alabama and Te’o played poorly. Deadspin reported that friends and family of the Californian, 22- year- old Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, believe he created
Kekua.