UnNews:Manti Te’o 'does not exist'

This article is part of UnNews, your source for up-to-the-picosecond misinformation.

20 January 2013

This image of "Te'o" used in many articles about him, has since been identified as a Photoshopped hoax, with a Samoan rugby player's head being pasted onto Carlo Calabrese's body.

ST JOSEPH COUNTY, Indiana -- "Manti Te'o", thought to be a 21-year-old linebacker for University of Notre Dame, does not actually exist, it has been revealed.

It was the perfect sports story: Te'o, who was named after the Outhere Brothers hit, Boom Boom Boom, was widely reported as being one of college football's star players, and was set to be one of the first choice draft picks for the next NFL season. Astonishingly, none of the journalists who sang Te'o's praises stopped to consider one simple fact: whether he was real or not.

The truth only came to light after Lennay Kekua, a young victim of leukaemia, died this month. Biographies of Te'o claimed that he was in a long and happy relationship with Kekua, but when her tragic death was reported in local papers, journalists attempted to interview Te'o, and found that there was no record of his existence.

Kekua's distraught mother DeShawna, told us: "This was our darkest hour. Our darkest hour, lord. And we had to hear about this young boy, this Te'o, who we ain't never done seen. Lennay never had no boyfriend, she was too busy fighting leukaemia, goddammit. They keep asking me these questions, saying he's made 105 tackles, 7 interceptions, and 1.5 sacks. You wanna tell me how a brother can make a half a sack?"

Brian Kelly, head coach of the Fighting Irish denied orchestrating the Te'o story: "This was not a hoax. Never. I am in no way part of this. As far as I was concerned, Te'o was part of this team - I spoke to him many times on the phone, we exchanged emails, he always liked my photos on Facebook. I felt he was a really important part of our defensive line. This news is just awful for us. We're going to have to completely re-think our gameplan. First things first, I want to make sure both our cornerbacks are real."

Sources

• Leverage, "In interview, Manti Te’o insists he was victim" Boston Globe, January 20, 2013