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Dr. Phil interviewed Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, man allegedly behind Manti Te’o hoax

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 21:52:00 +0000

Manti Te'o, the publicly humiliated Notre Dame linebacker who claims to have been the target of a complex online hoax, has told his side of the story to ABC's Katie Couric (and he insists that he's not gay). Now we're about to hear from Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, the man who allegedly created the identity of the woman Te'o thought he fell in love with, Lennay Kekua. TMZ reports that the apparently grief-stricken Tuiasosopo sat down with none other than professional soul-cuddler Dr. Phil in an "emotional and deep" interview yesterday.

Ronaiah Tuiasosopo’s cousin may have been the voice of Lennay Kekua

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 16:30:00 +0000

Who was behind the voice of Lennay Kekua?

This question, which is just one of the many surrounding Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o and the discovery that his dead girlfriend was fake, has taken on a life of its own: After Deadspin uncovered the hoax last week, reporting that Manti Te'o's girlfriend never died of leukemia because she had never even existed, a man named Ronaiah Tuiasosopo came forward as the orchestrator of Kekua's social media account. A teary-eyed Ronaiah Tuiasosopo allegedly admitted to setting up the hoax, and on Wednesday, his lawyer told the Daily News that he was also the man behind the voice of the woman, too. Then Manti Te'o released three voicemails from Kekua, aired Wednesday during an interview with ABC's Katie Couric; voicemails that sounded like they were left by a woman. Incredulous that Te'o could have been talking to a man for so long, he told Couric, “If he somehow made that voice, that’s incredible, that’s an incredible talent to do that. Especially every single day." On the same day, TMZ claimed to have confirmed that the voice was indeed that of Ronaiah Tuiasosopo's.

Manti Te’o dated real girlfriend shortly after death of fake girlfriend

Fri, 18 Jan 2013 22:40:00 +0000

Every real, actual girlfriend of disgraced Notre Dame football star Manti Te'o henceforth will be subject to more scrutiny (or at least more interest) after Deadspin exposed that the girlfriend of the linebacker, who died the same day as his grandmother, was not real. The fake woman, 22-year-old Lennay Kekua, had a fake death from fake leukemia in September; Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick implied that Te'o was catfished and fell for an online hoax.

But TMZ is now reporting that the devastated Te'o had a real girfriend just two months after Kekua's death, in November, which was still one month before Te'o allegedly learned that Kekua had never existed. TMZ's tips have been verified by a Twitter photo (although Kekua had a Twitter account, too) posted of the two, and the "dates are consistent with the story Manti is telling friends." The couple met under similar circumstances as Te'o met Kekua -- at a football game.