Tag: Lennay Kekua

Tonight ESPN premiers ‘The Tale of Te’o’

The premier of ESPN’s look at Manti Te’o and his fictional girlfriend, Lennay Kekua.

The nation was in shock when the news of Manti Te’o girlfriend, Lennay Kekua was believed to have died to leukemia. The shock continued when it was found out that Te’o was part of a catfishing scheme and Kekua had never existed.

Tonight, ESPN will look into the story with a much deeper lens and for many of us, this will be a must-watch program. Even if you miss it, it will be available on multiple ESPN platforms after it’s premier.

Manti Te’o Girlfriend Hoax To Be Featured on ESPN’s ‘Backstory’

I’ve mentioned this before, but the one Notre Dame game I’ve been to was the 2012 win over Michigan.

I’ve mentioned this before, but the one Notre Dame game I’ve been to was the 2012 win over Michigan. It was the Irish’s first home contest after the apparent death of Manti Te’o’s girlfriend, Lennay Kekua. The student cheering section waved leis in support of Te’o. But no one, including Te’o, suspected they were being had, and now, the ESPN series “Backstory” is ready to examine it.

John Buhler of FanSided gave a nice reaction to this news and mentioned what many of us still think about the whole thing years later. The revelation that Te’o had been catfished was one of the most bizarre bombshells in the history of sports. Fortunately for Te’o, the story had faded from the public consciousness by the start of his NFL career.

Enough time has passed that this hoax can be examined with all available information. Some lessons are bound to be learned, or at least relearned, in this documentary. The obvious one is you probably should actually meet someone before claiming to be in a relationship with them. The rest will be realized as we watch this story unfold all over again.