Katie Couric’s Manti Te’o interview: Was this compelling television, or overkill?

Anyone who has picked up an interview at this point likely knows the story: a Notre Dame football star and Heisman Trophy finalist named Manti Te’o had spent most of the fall talking about a girlfriend that did not exist. While for much of the past week there has been speculation that this was an elaborate hoax put on, possibly with the football player even in on it, as a way in which to garner sympathy for himself and to improve promotional opportunities for himself down the line. However, the pendulum has shifted over recently, and Te’o’s interview on “Katie” Thursday is proof enough to us that he was not really involved in the orchestration of the hoax at all.

Te’o’s honesty with Katie Couric on the subject of “Lennay Kakua” came across as genuine and honest, and most importantly for you truth-seekers the facts lined up. He explained that he first learned back in early December that the fix may have been in, as he received a call from Kekua’s number with a voice that sounded very much like her. However, he admitted to lying about it for the next week or so to the press in order to keep distractions at bay from the team before their National Title game.

In some ways the interview was funny, as Te’o drew laughs for a response to a question about his sexuality. At other points, it was very serious as he explained why he pretended to his family that he had actually met this woman in the flesh.

This was all nice to hear come from Te’o’s mouth, but was this interview really necessary? From our perspective, the only person that we really want to hear an interview from is Roniah Tuiasosopo, the man accused of having orchestrated the hoax to begin with. With some new reports coming out about Roniah possibly disguising his voice for all of the phone calls that he made, there are so many questions that are out there to ask … including why he would want to do something so drastic in order to embarrass someone who did not do anything to him.

What did you think about this interview as a whole? If you want to see more about how this show is impacting pop culture at the moment, be sure to head on over to the link here.

Photo: ABC