The Manti Te’o story is taking yet another strange and somewhat hysterical twist.
According to the New York Daily News, Ronaiah Tuiasosopo — the man reportedly behind the fake girlfriend hoax — was impersonating “Lennay Kekua” during phone calls with Te’o. Many of these phone calls lasted well over an hour and deep into the night, according to reports.
Te’o “thought it was a female he was talking with,” lawyer Milton Grimes, who is representing Tuiasosopo, told the Daily News. “It was Ronaiah as Lennay.”
Grimes also claims that his client — who has experience in vocal and dramatic training — wasn’t trying to humiliate Te’o.
“This wasn’t a prank to make fun,” Grimes said. “It was establishing a communication with someone. … It was a person with a troubled existence trying to reach out and communicate and have a relationship.”
