Katie Couric lands first televised interview with Manti Te’o, family

Oprah Winfrey scored the biggest sports interview of 2013 by getting a confession out of Lance Armstrong this past week; and now, Katie Couric can boast having Manti Te’o in her back pocket.

On Sunday, it was announced that Couric’s interview with the Notre Dame football star and his parents will air on Thursday, January 24, and this is going to be a chat that will surely draw interest from even non-sports fans. Te’o is in the headlines after being allegedly a victim of a “catfish” hoax from a group of people who led him to believe that he was in a relationship with a woman who died during the fall, when in reality this woman never existed to begin with.

During an interview with ESPN this weekend, Te’o (who was a finalist for the Heisman Trophy) denied talk that he was somehow in on the hoax, and was using a story about playing for his dead girlfriend in order to get publicity and fame. Instead, he is saying now that he was completely oblivious to anything that was going on until December, and is saying that he was simply naive for believing that this woman was a real person despite never meeting her, and with all of his attempts to see her being unsuccessful.

As for why Te’o’s parents are taking part in the interview, the only reason that we can think of is simply to help combat a quote from Te’o’s father claiming that his son and the girlfriend had actually met. The football star said that he actually lied to his parents about meeting her out of embarrassment.

Are you interested in watching this interview? If you want to see the Manti Te’o spoof that happened on this weekend’s edition of “Saturday Night Live,” you can do so over at the link here.

Photo: ABC