Manti Te’o to talk fake-girlfriend case in Katie Couric interview

The girlfriend may have been fake, but the interview will be real.

Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o became a national punch line last week when the girlfriend he claimed had died tragically turned out never to have existed. Now Te’o -- who claims he was the victim of a hoax -- will try to explain the odd case to Katie Couric for the Thursday episode of her syndicated talk show “Katie.”

It will be Te’o’s first on-camera interview since the story broke. Jeremy Schaap of ESPN conducted a two-and-a-half hour interview with Te’o on Friday night, but there were no video cameras.

This will be the second week in a row with a major televised interview featuring a troubled athlete. This past week Oprah Winfrey drew high ratings on her OWN cable channel with a Lance Armstrong interview. The former Tour de France champion finally admitted he had doped for much of his cycling career.

What do you think of the Te’o case?

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Twitter: @scottcollinsLAT