Katie Couric subjected Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o to an aggressive line of questioning on her Thursday daytime talk show.
Couric nabbed the exclusive interview with Te'o after news broke that his girlfriend named Lennay Kekua, who was allegedly diagnosed with leukemia and died in September, never existed. Te'o has said that he was the victim of a hoax and admitted he never actually met her in person. Many wonder if he was somehow involved in creating a fake girlfriend.
Couric went through the timeline of the relationship, pressing Te'o on specifics. Couric wore a hardened, skeptical expression throughout. Te'o described how he tried to FaceTime with Kekua but had technical difficulties. Kekua apparently told him that she could hear and see him, but Te'o could only see a dark screen. "Are you that technologically challenged?" Couric demanded.
She then wondered, "I'm sure you're a big man on campus, you're reportedly very well-liked ... you go to Notre Dame. I'm imagining there are a lot of nice young women who go to school there. Why wouldn't you want a real girlfriend, who you could actually spend real time with in person?"
Later, Couric questioned Te'o on Kekua's cancer diagnosis. Kekua was apparently in a horrific car accident over the summer that left her in a coma. After she awoke, she was diagnosed with leukemia. "Either you are the most naive person on the planet or this is the saddest story ever written," Couric said.
Couric's interview raised some eyebrows when she used the photo of a girl who was thought to be Kekua throughout the show, even though it was proven to belong to somebody else uninvolved with the hoax.
Related
Before You Go
