Te’o Speaks, Denies Involvement in Hoax

Notre Dame’s Manti Te’o, the college football star whose inspirational story has been revealed to be a hoax, has broken his silence.

FOX News Radio’s Ron Flatter reports:

Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o says he did not conjure up a phony, dying girlfriend.

(Te’o) “No. ?Never, ever would I be part of this.”

Speaking in Florida to ESPN, Te’o did admit he kept up appearances, even after he found out last month the woman he knew only online and on the phone never existed.

(Te’o) “I kind of, you know, tailored my stories to have people think that, ‘Yeah, he met her before she passed away,’ so that people wouldn’t think I was some crazy dude.”

Te’o said an acquaintance in California, Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, confessed to the hoax. ?Tuiasosopo has not said so publicly.

Ron Flatter, FOX News Radio.