Earlier this month, Colorado star Travis Hunter capped off a groundbreaking season by winning the Heisman Trophy, a historic achievement for the young athlete.
However, the celebration of his accomplishment was overshadowed by online backlash directed at his fiancée, Leanna Lenee, for her actions during the ceremony. The wave of criticism eventually prompted Lenee to set her Instagram account to private.
Although she kept her TikTok account public initially, Lenee decided to address the growing scrutiny and explained the circumstances surrounding the incident at the ceremony.
“This is making me so mad because anyone who knows me knows I support Travis in every win, everything he does, because I truly, truly love that man,” Lenee said in defense of her behavior during the Heisman moment.
“He is perfect in my eyes. When his name was called, I instantly was going to… If you watch the video, you can see me like [gestures as though preparing to stand],” she continued. “But his mom didn’t get up.
So I was like, ‘Oh, maybe I don’t get up. Maybe I just sit here with her.’ So I sat there, and then you all said, ‘Coach Prime had to tell me to get up.’ No, he didn’t. He said, ‘Go get him. Go get your man.’ But he didn’t have to do that because I was going to do that anyways.”
Lenee elaborated further, saying, “As soon as I saw Travis get up, then I thought it was appropriate to stand up, greet him, congratulate him. But then there was a camera right in front of Coach Prime, and I knew they were going to film that moment.
And because of how people are online, I was like, ‘I don’t want to be in that shot, so I’m going to sit down.’ So I tried to sit down so I’m not in the camera while I’m crying.”
In the aftermath of her response, older videos of Lenee’s past behavior began resurfacing on social media, fueling further speculation about her relationship with Hunter. This escalation appeared to be the breaking point, as both Hunter and Lenee have since taken steps to retreat from public scrutiny.
Hunter deactivated his Instagram account, while Lenee not only made her Instagram and TikTok accounts private but ultimately deleted them altogether.
