Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.
Travis Hunter has spoken out about the criticism his fiancée received following his Heisman Trophy win.
The University of Colorado Boulder cornerback received the Heisman Trophy on Saturday (December 14). While the top player in college football was taking photos with fans and family members at an event over the weekend, his fiancée Leanna Lenee was seen sitting on a couch.
In photos and videos posted from the event, Lenee seemingly appeared to tell Hunter: “Am I supposed to just sit here all day?”
Across social media, some users claimed that Hunter and Lenee were having a “heated discussion” and made comments about Lenee’s supposed lack of support for Hunter. Others encouraged the college football player to reevaluate their relationship if she wasn’t going to be actively celebrating his success.
The cornerback went on to address the negative comments during a livestream on Twitch on Sunday (December 15). During the livestream, he explained that Lenee ended up crying herself to sleep over the comments from critics.
“She’s still sleeping,” Hunter said on Twitch. “You know, when you’re hurt but you just cry yourself to sleep? She drunk an OD amount tonight for no reason.”
“It’s hard on me because I can’t even help her,” he added.
The college football player continued to explain how the incident has affected him, noting that he feels the same way as his fiancée.
“Y’all hate on me and then y’all go and hate on my girl,” Hunter said. “Bro, I feel the same thing that she feels. We’re inseparable, bro. We’re with each other. If she’s hurting, of course I’m going to be hurting. If I’m hurting, of course she’s going to be hurting.”
He went on to question why people were even focusing on his relationship instead of their own personal lives.
“You ain’t never had no girl, so why y’all talking ‘bout me?” Hunter told fans on Twitch. “Find something else to talk about. You’re talking about my girl? Go talk about your girl. Go find a girl. Go find a life.”
He continued: “I know what I got. I know my girl. My girl been with me for five years. Y’all are just now starting to talk about me.”
As for their conversation at the event, Hunter clarified that he and his fiancée were actually talking about members of his family. “Some of them wanted to go back to the hotel, some of them didn’t,” he said.
The livestream ended as he told all of his listeners to send Lenee positive messages on social media to hopefully make her feel better.
“I would rather all y’all leave right now and go send her text messages so when she wakes up in the morning, she gets on her phone [and it’s] nothing but positivity,” he said. “Nothing but positive energy.”
Hunter and Lenee revealed their engagement in February after first going public with their relationship in 2022. He even thanked her in his acceptance speech for the Heisman Trophy, which is awarded annually to the top player in college football.
“I never thought I’d be in this position,” Hunter said. “It’s crazy. Your belief will take you a long way. It’s actually crazy, man. Thank you, thank you, thank you. First, I want to thank my fiancée and my mother. They’ve been with me since the first time I had surgery my first year of college.”
“They never took a step away from me,” he added. “All the hard hours. All the hard days. All the times I didn’t want to wake up and even get on my phone, look at football, y’all stayed with me. I’m very thankful for y’all.”
