We finally have a face to match behind Manti Te’o‘s catfish ordeal!
Ronaiah Tuiasosopo is the man behind Lennay Kekua, the name of the girlfriend Manti Te’o was dating online, who mysteriously “died” last month.
BLOG: Call MTV, We’ve All Been Catfish’d…Could Manti Te’o Be Gay?
The pranker was recently spotted leaving a family home in California by TMZ, but unfortunately, he refused break his silence on the incident.
According to the site, Ronaiah has already confessed and apologized to Manti for catfishing him.
The site reports:
Ronaiah was wearing a hoodie and tried to hide his face. He also didn’t utter a single word when asked about his role in the hoax.
Just 24 hours before Ronaiah appeared in public, Manti had told ESPN … Ronaiah had reached out to him — confessed to the prank — and apologized.
DETAILS: He Speaks! Manti Te’o Denies Involvement In Fake Girlfriend Hoax
Manti has already went on record to say that he believes he was a victim in this case, rather than a co-conspirator. He also stated that him and Ronaiah were acquaintances while this ordeal went down.
We’re glad that this situation is cleared up so both parties can move on!
Head over to TMZ to see Ronaiah leaving his house.
In other news, Te’o is revealing more information of the whole ordeal. The footballer spoke to ESPN for 2 1/2 hours on Friday evening at an IMG training facility in Florida where he is training for the NFL draft an in question-and-answer form he got into detail on how this incident really happenend.
Huffington Post reports:
Q: WHEN DID TE’O’S ONLINE “RELATIONSHIP” WITH THE FAKE WOMAN BEGIN AND HOW DID IT DEVELOP?
A: Te’o says he received a Facebook friend request from Kekua in early 2010, his freshman year at Notre Dame. They were in contact on and off over the next couple of years and, as Te’o describes it, it naturally progressed until they started to get very close last April. At that time, Te’o was told by a person portraying Kekua’s brother, that Lennay had been in a serious car accident. In the wake of that twist, Te’o began to talk to the girl much more frequently. He became hugely invested in her and was then told she had leukemia.
Kekua “died” on Sept. 12, the same day Te’o’s real grandmother died. Te’o said he was grief-stricken and had a testy conversation with Kekua, then – hours later – the pranksters called and said his girlfriend was dead.
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Q: SO TE’O NEVER SAW LENNAY KEKUA IN THE FLESH?
A: That’s right. They had planned to meet up one time in San Diego during a long layover he had on his way home to Hawaii. That never happened because on April 28, Te’o says he was told, she got into a serious car accident. Te’o said he was told the accident put Kekua into a coma, and when she came out her recovery from serious injuries drew them closer. He started talking to a woman portraying Kekua every day.
He said before he returned from Hawaii to South Bend for preseason practice he had planned to meet up with her on California, but he had to cancel this time to attend a family reunion in Utah.
Te’o claims they tried to make video phone calls using Skype and FaceTime, but he said he could never see her face. She would say she could see him and tease him about being able to use the technology correctly.
Mmm… interesting…
Check out more details here!
SOURCE: TMZ
