This article is from the archive of our partner 
.
In his much anticipated first on-camera interview since a fake-girlfriend hoax took over his career and everyone else's rumor-mongering obsession, Notre Dame star Manti Te'o didn't let on too much — but Katie Couric definitely went there.
About halfway through the interview that Couric scored over Oprah, which had been hyped as much for its seriousness as its talk-showiness after ESPN's off-camera chat Friday, she asked him a question many people secretly wanted her to: "One of the many theories making the rounds is somehow you created this whole scenario to cover your sexual orientation. Are you gay?"
"No, far from it. Farrrr from it," Te'o replied, chuckling to himself and sending the studio audience into laughter as well. So, that clears up that rumor in a way that's maybe a little bit offensive....
The rest of the interview was pretty unspectacular. But Couric did her best to corner and call out Te'o, Palin-style, for different things he said in the press about his relationship with the non-existent Lennay Kekua.
Te'o said his biggest regret was not lying to the press but lying to his father about meeting Kekua. When Couric asked if he benefited from the press generated by the sob story — that Kekua died of leukemia after a car crash, right after his grandmother actually did die, and that he went on to lead Notre Dame back to glory — Te'o denied it: "The only thing I basked in was that I had an impact on people," he said, "was that people turned to me for inspiration."
