Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast
The Biggest Catfish Scam in History - The Manti Te'o story
03 May 2025
Manti Te'o, a standout linebacker at Notre Dame, became the center of a high-profile catfishing scandal in 2013. During his senior season in 2012, Te'o publicly shared that both his grandmother and his girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, had died on the same day. This narrative garnered national sympathy and bolstered his Heisman trophy prospects. However, investigations revealed that Lennay Kekua never existed. The persona was fabricated by Ronaiah "Naya" Tuiasosopo, who used photos of another woman to create a fictitious online identity. Te'o had been in an online relationship with Kekua, believing her to be real.
Full Episode
Have I ever told a joke about someone and later felt bad about it? Well, yeah, all the time actually. So this is Manti, and Manti is 20 years old during this time, living in Indiana, and he's a college football star who everyone knows is going to eventually be in the NFL. But one day in 2011, Manti does something that's going to change his life forever. He responds to a friend's post on Facebook.
The friend is this girl, Linnae. And Linnae is also a college student, but she goes to a different school. Now, Manti doesn't really know her. She just randomly added him on Facebook one day a few years before. But one day, he responds to something she posts on Facebook. And from there, they start chatting, and they hit it off, and they start tweeting each other. They exchange numbers.
They become friends. And the more they talk, the more Manti is like, damn, this girl kind of foinked. And so by 2012, they're talking every night online and over the phone. And eventually, he decides to make Lene his girlfriend. But unfortunately, they can't meet up because he goes to Notre Dame while she goes to Stanford, which is on the other side of the country.
Regardless, every night they talk and they fall asleep on the phone together. It's, you know, adorable. But then, one day, out of nowhere, something terrible happens. Lene gets into an awful car accident, and she's in critical condition. And to make it worse, when she's in the hospital, her doctors find that she has leukemia, so she needs a bone marrow transplant now.
And so members of Lene's family are calling and texting Manti and letting him know her condition and that she's in the hospital. And of course, this is devastating to Manti. He doesn't want to lose his girlfriend. However, over the next few weeks, her condition gets worse and worse. And eventually, Manti's fears come true. Lene's family contacts him and tells him that she has passed away.
And poor Manti, he doesn't know what to do. I mean, he has a big football game that night. Plus, his grandmother just passed away too, so that is also weighing on him. And right before the game, he breaks down in the locker room. I mean, this girl was really important to him.
And then Lene's sister tells Manti that before she died, Lene had preemptively written him a letter for every football game for the rest of the season. And in one of the letters, she says, babe, if anything happens to me, you promise that you'll stay there and you'll play and you'll honor me through the way you play.
And so Manti thinks about this and he decides to give this game his all in honor of Lene. And so bam, he goes out on the field and he plays an amazing game. 12 tackles, two interceptions. Bro is kicking ass out there. And after the game, he gets interviewed and he tells the press the awful news that both his grandmother and his girlfriend died on the same day.
Knowing that, you know, my girlfriend and my grandma are watching and they're right beside me and helping me, you know, help my team win.
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