Manti Te'o lied. In an exclusive new on-camera interview with Katie Couric that's set to air Thursday night, the Notre Dame linebacker admits that, after finding out that his online "girlfriend" Lennay Kekua was a hoax, he briefly lied about her existence to the media. But, he says he did it because he didn't know what else to do.
"Put yourself in my situation," he says. "My whole world told me that she died on September 12. Everybody knew that. This girl, who I committed myself to, died on September 12. Now I get a phone call on December 6 saying that she's alive and then I'm going to be put on national TV two days later. And to ask me about the same question. You know, what would you do?"
So, what would you do? There's literally only one person in the history of the world that's ever faced what Te'o just faced with the entire country watching. So, it'll be interesting to see how people respond to his admission that he lied about his fake girlfriend for a short period of time after he learned that she didn't actually exist.
Watch the clip above to see Te'o talk about why he lied.
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[via ABC News]
