What, you thought (hoped?) you’d get through another day without an update on one of the most bizarre stories the sports world has seen in recent years?
Appearing on NBC’s Today show Tuesday, the woman who served as the public “face” of Manti Te’o‘s faux girlfriend in a bizarrely elaborate hoax claimed she “never met Te’o... never spoke with... never exchanged words, tweets” with the former Notre Dame linebacker.
Diane O’Meara (pictured), who the world had previously known as Te’o’s dead girlfriend Lennay Kekua, confirmed that she went to high school with Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, the alleged “mastermind” behind the hoax. O’Meara claimed that Tuiasosopo had stalked her via Facebook for several years and had stolen photos of her that were ultimately used as the public face of Kekua, who Te’o had built an online relationship with and who supposedly succumbed to leukemia in September of last year.
O’Meara only learned she was a bit player in Tuiasosopo’s alleged hoax when she was contacted by writers from Deadspin.com, which broke the story earlier this month.
In the interview, O’Meara stated that “Ronny has called and not only confessed, but he has also apologized.” An apology, though, doesn’t go far enough for a woman unwittingly dragged into Tuiasosopo’s tangled web.
“I don’t think there’s anything he could say to me that would fix this,” the 23-year-old Los Angeles marketing executive said.
Tuiasosopo and his family have hinted that they could speak publicly this week for the first time, although that’s far from a certainty given the fluid nature of the situation. Te’o, who sat down for an off-camera interview late last week, is expected to have an on-camera interview with Katie Couric this week. Te’o has denied he was participant in the hoax, although he has acknowledged “catering” his stories about Kekua.
For the entire O’Meara interview, click on the video below.