It's the Manti Teo Hoax Girlfriend Lennay Kekua Open Thread

I know a fair number of you CN community members don't do twitter, so you may not be privy to the latest explosion, which is, in a nutshell is that:

Notre Dame star linebacker Manti Te'o's girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, the subject of many a news story throughout this past football season and supposedly whom had died of leukemia..... never existed.

From Dead Spin, where you really need to read the full story:

Did you enjoy the uplifiting story, the tale of a man who responded to adversity by becoming one of the top players of the game? If so, stop reading.

Manti Te'o did lose his grandmother this past fall. Annette Santiago died on Sept. 11, 2012, at the age of 72, according to Social Security Administration records in Nexis. But there is no SSA record there of the death of Lennay Marie Kekua, that day or any other. Her passing, recounted so many times in the national media, produces no obituary or funeral announcement in Nexis, and no mention in the Stanford student newspaper.

Nor is there any report of a severe auto accident involving a Lennay Kekua. Background checks turn up nothing. The Stanford registrar's office has no record that a Lennay Kekua ever enrolled. There is no record of her birth in the news. Outside of a few Twitter and Instagram accounts, there's no online evidence that Lennay Kekua ever existed.

Notre Dame has released a statement, which is as follows:

On Dec. 26, Notre Dame coaches were informed by Manti Te'o and his parents that Manti had been the victim of what appears to be a hoax in which someone using the fictitious name Lennay Kekua apparently ingratiated herself with Manti and then conspired with others to lead him to believe she had tragically died of leukemia.

The University immediately initiated an investigation to assist Manti and his family in discovering the motive for and nature of this hoax. While the proper authorities will continue to investigate this troubling matter, this appears to be, at a minimum, a sad and very cruel deception to entertain its perpetrators.

Dennis Brown
University Spokesman | Assistant Vice President

After you read the Dead Spin story and recount this past season's many stories about Te'o and what a great guy he is, you really have to conclude....

HOW THE HELL DOES A GUY FALL FOR A HOAX INVOLVING A FAKE GIRLFRIEND WHO HE SUPPOSEDLY KNOWS REALLY WELL...

and...

HOW IS IT THAT NOTRE DAME DIDN'T RELEASE THIS INFORMATION EARLIER INSTEAD OF WAITING FOR SOMEONE TO EXPLODERATE IT ALL OVER THE INTERNETS.

Conclusions:

The world is mad.

Public Relations people are amongst the stupidest creatures in the universe.

Regular news media can't be entirely trusted with what we used to call journalism.

RAY OF HOPE:

Rex Burkhead is real.