While maintaining that he played no part in the bizarre hoax revealed in a story by Deadspin last week, former Notre Dame football star Manti Te’o admitted that he lied briefly about his online girlfriend after he learned that she did not exist, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.
In his first television interview since the scandal broke, Te’o told Katie Couric that he lied about the hoax after he received a call on Dec. 6 from a woman claiming to be his alleged girlfriend Lennay Kekua, whom the public was led to believe had died in September.
“Now I get a phone call on Dec. 6, saying that she’s alive and then I’m going be put on national TV two days later,” Te’o said. “And to ask me about the same question. You know, what would you do?”
The interview will air Thursday on Couric’s syndicated talk show.
