Deadspin.com is no longer the only media outlet investigating the Manti Te'o girlfriend hoax story that rocked the sports world Wednesday. Nev Schulman, the host and executive producer of MTV's "Catfish: The TV Show" tweeted Wednesday night that he was looking into the mysterious online identity of Lennay Kekua and had spoken to a woman involved in allegedly duping the Notre Dame linebacker.
"Catfish: The TV Show" is an MTV docu-series that helps people involved in online relationships determine if the person they've been communicating with is actually who their virtual profile says they are. It grew out of a 2010 documentary of the same name in which Schulman searched for the truth about his own shady online acquaintances. The term "catfish" refers to a person who has created a fake social media profile designed to seduce and deceive someone online.
Kekua, who Te'o described as his girlfriend, was reported to have died of leukemia on the same day as his grandmother. The Heisman runner-up's tragic story of loss served as a powerful backdrop to Notre Dame's run to the BCS Championship game. But Deadspin's story revealed that Lennay Kekua was not actually a real person.
Statements from Notre Dame and Te'o Wednesday night asserted that Te'o was the victim of a cruel hoax. Still, there are unanswered questions about his possible involvement in the story.
UPDATE: Schulman tweeted Thursday morning that he had identified two Twitter users who allegedly knew about the Lennay Kekua girlfriend hoax "all along." But they claim that it was Ronaiah Tuiasosopo who orchestrated the scheme.