2013 Deadspin Hall Of Fame Nominee: Manti Te'o's Dead Girlfriend

Lennay Kekua was the heartbreaking story of the 2012 college football season. She was the young, beautiful girlfriend of Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o, but she died that September. The way the narrative went, her death served as an inspiration for what would become a charmed season, both for Te'o and for the…
Watch For This "RIP Lennay Kekua" Sign In Oakland Tonight
A couple of Oakland fans plan on honoring the memory of Manti Te'o's dead, fake girlfriend by hanging this sign in O.co's Black Hole for tonight's game against San Diego (at 11:35 pm ET, remember).
Ronaiah Tuiasosopo Sued Over The One True Thing He Told Manti Te'o
Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, who masterminded the hoax behind Manti Te'o's fake dead girlfriend, is being sued in Los Angeles Superior Court by a friend who claims he suffered brain damage after a March 2012 auto accident while riding in a car driven by Tuiasosopo.
Manti Te'o Is Now A San Diego Charger
Well, it took a day longer than expected, but former Notre Dame inside linebacker Manti Te'o, whom we've enjoyed following over the past three months and change, has finally found himself an NFL home. He went with pick No. 38 to the San Diego Chargers, a real NFL team, albeit one with a doctor who seems fictitious.
Te'o Still Has An Odd Explanation For Skipping Girlfriend's Funeral
After all that waiting—you were waiting for this, right?—the NFL draft has finally popped up on our calendars. Which means it's as good a time as ever for fresh eyes to try to figure out what exactly happened with Manti Te'o, who could go toward the end of tonight's first round (although he won't be in the building),…
The Associated Press Has Finally Gone About Correcting Its Lennay Kekua Reporting
Whoever said print media wasn't nimble? It's been three weeks and two days since we published our initial story, "Manti Te'o's Dead Girlfriend, The Most Heartbreaking And Inspirational Story Of The College Football Season, Is A Hoax." The Te'o story has made its rounds through the national media between then and…
Manti Te'o Enjoyed Beyoncé's Halftime Show, Appears To Have Deleted His Twitter Account
This was not Manti Te'o's last tweet under the handle @mteo_5, it was the second-to-last tweet. If you look for @mteo_5 it is gone, but it's possible he's still out there under a new handle.
Here’s Manti Te’o Hoaxer Ronaiah Tuiasosopo Performing What He Claims Is Lennay Kekua’s Voice
When the first part of Dr. Phil's exclusive interview with Ronaiah Tuiasosopo concluded yesterday, we were left with a cliffhanger: would Ronaiah finally give in to the good Doctor's demands and perform the voice of Lennay Kekua? Today we got the answer: sort of. [Update, March 3, 2014: The video has been removed.]
Here's Everything Ronaiah Tuiasosopo Told Dr. Phil In Day One Of His Exclusive Interview
Ronaiah Tuiasosopo—the man behind Lennay Kekua, Manti Te'o's fake dead girlfriend—today told Dr. Phil new details about the "romantic" relationship he had with Te'o. Put however much stock you like in these details: Tuiasosopo is an avowed liar and hoaxer.
On Dr. Phil, Ronaiah Tuiasosopo Says He's Trying "To Recover From Homosexuality"
Part one of Ronaiah Tuiasosopo's silence-breaking sit-down with Dr. Phil airs all over the nation today. (Check your local listings for the precise time.) The Associated Press got its hooks into an early broadcast—our Tim Burke has marshaled one, too, and he'll be posting highlights shortly—and quoted this gem from…
Dr. Phil: Hoaxer Ronaiah Tuiasosopo Was In Love With Manti Te'o
On Thursday, the first half of Dr. Phil's exclusive interview with Ronaiah Tuiasosopo will air in its entirety. Today, Dr. Phil McGraw went on the Today Show to talk about the interview and share some of the things that Ronaiah told him about the hoax he carried out against Manti Te'o. Here's what McGraw told Today's…
Report: Female Tuiasosopo Cousin Involved In Te'o Hoax
Two recent developments have been hard to reconcile with each other. First, Ronaiah Tuiasosopo's claim to the Daily News that, in leading on Manti Te'o, it was him on the phone the entire time, impersonating a female voice. Second, the release of three voicemails from "Lennay Kekua" to Te'o—they really do sound like…
Manti Te'o's Interview With Katie Couric: A Liveblog
Katie Couric taped her big interview with Manti Te'o Tuesday afternoon. It airs today throughout America. Although the Couric/Te'o publicity team has released a handful of advance snippets—Te'o's admission that he lied to the press, voicemails allegedly from Kekua—most of what Te'o and his family will say remains…
Listen To Manti Te'o's Voicemails From Lennay Kekua/Ronaiah Tuiasosopo
In advance of this afternoon's interview, Katie Couric's show has released recordings of three voicemails provided by Manti Te'o. The messages were left on Te'o's phone by who he believed was Lennay Kekua. As the Daily News reported this morning, hoaxer Ronaiah Tuiasosopo claims he disguised his voice over the phone,…
Lawyer: Hoaxer Ronaiah Tuiasosopo Pretended To Be "Lennay" During Phone Calls With Manti Te'o
According to his lawyer, Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, the man behind the Manti Te'o dead-girlfriend hoax, was the person who posed as "Lennay Kekua" during phone calls with the Notre Dame linebacker. Skeptical? Well, don't worry. Tuiasosopo's attorney, Milton Grimes, has a pretty airtight explanation for how his client was…
Manti Te'o Tells Katie Couric He Lied
Manti Te'o's full sit-down with Katie Couric will air tomorrow, but highlights of the interview were shown on today's Good Morning America. (You can view some of it here.) Te'o's story seems similar in substance to the one he gave in his non-televised, late-night interview with Jeremy Schaap, with a little more…
