Leanna Lenee, the fiancée of Colorado Buffaloes wide receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter, is defending herself and explaining what really happened after a weekend in which she was at the center of multiple “controversies.”
Interest in Lenee has been particularly high in recent weeks following a series of alleged slights against Hunter, who was awarded the Heisman Trophy this weekend as the top player in college football.
In a nearly eight-minute video on her TikTok account that has been viewed more than 1.7 million times, Lenee discussed several issues that have emerged in recent weeks: the claim that Travis wasn’t her type, an incident after the Oklahoma State game where people thought the couple was arguing, the incident at an Adidas store in New York City and at the Heisman ceremony itself.
“Okay, I’m going to discuss all this stuff online because I’m emotionally and mentally tired of seeing people try to portray me as a person that I’m not,” Lenee began. “But what is a testimony without a test of faith.”
Later in the video, she said, “The things I see people making up are really crazy because it’s not what happened. I just think people find every little thing and try to make it into something that it isn’t. Then bird-brained people simply accept what they see online.’
The first topic she covered was a story about how she left Hunter in her DMs for months and how he wasn’t her “type.”
Travis Hunter’s fiancée, Leanna Lenee, set the record straight on some controversies
Lenee explained that the reason she didn’t respond to his message was because Hunter was dating someone at the time.
“Her name was in his bio, so I knew right away he had a partner,” Lenee explained. “So I left the message and he sat there until he was single. I don’t do house demolition. I’m not an afterthought. I don’t stand for any of these things. I support women so I would never do that to another woman because I would never want it to be done to me. So I ignored him until he was single. That’s the real reason he was in my DMs.”
As for the comment about her “type,” she explained that she doesn’t have a “physical type” and that she has previously dated men of different races and professions or interests. She also explained that she had never dated anyone younger than her until she started dating Travis.
‘I don’t care what people look like or what they can give me. I date people because of who they are as a person, how they honor God and how they treat those around them, and Travis is all of the above,” Lenee said.
“So when I said he wasn’t my type, I meant he was younger than me. I had never dated anyone younger than me, and he had cheated on his girlfriend. I don’t know if your type is cheaters, but mine isn’t. So no, he wasn’t my type at first because of those two things.
‘But that didn’t change the fact that I was attracted to him. That’s obviously why I gave him a chance. Then I discovered that he really is a phenomenal and amazing human being, and that’s why we’re together, and that’s why we’re still together to this day.”
Lenee continued with the alleged story that she was angry at Hunter for talking to cheerleaders after the Oklahoma State game. According to Lenee, Hunter had not spoken to any cheerleaders and the real reason she was angry was because security guards were not allowing family members of the team onto the field, as is customary.
Lenee and Hunter prior to the Heisman Trophy presentation on Saturday night in New York City
Lenee said this incident — after a game against Oklahoma State — was because a security guard prevented her and other Buffaloes family members from getting on the field.
She said there were “thousands” of security guards holding people back and that she got into an argument with a security guard who tried to explain she could go on the field to see Hunter.
“When I finally got to the field, I told Travis. He had already seen it. I already congratulated him,” Lenee revealed. ‘We had already spoken, came on the field. I was upset because I had just gotten into an argument with someone.
“And then what y’all don’t see after a five second clip is that I let it go right after that. I was like, You know what? I celebrate it. We took pictures, we were with our families and then we went to this meet-and-greet.”
Lenee then explained what happened last weekend at an Adidas store in New York City — after a video surfaced of her apparently angry that Hunter was taking photos with female fans, in which she appeared to say, “What do you want that I do? Sitting here?’
Lenee explained that those were not her words and that she asked what the next plans were – as Hunter was about to go to a rehearsal of the Heisman ceremony. She also said she had no problem with fans taking pictures with him – and that the video captured his interaction with Adidas employees, not fans.
“He was done meeting the fans. “I was there all the time taking pictures, talking to them, everything,” she said. “The girls that were there were Adidas. They worked for Adidas. So we were taking pictures for a social post. Those were those people. I didn’t mind at all that there were no fans. I’ve never been annoyed by fans.’
Which brings us to the actual Heisman ceremony itself, where Hunter defeated Boise State and chased Ashton Jeanty for the sport’s highest honor.
Lenee said she wasn’t mad at Hunter at this point for taking pictures with a woman – she said the woman worked for Adidas and she wanted to know what their plans were
Lenee and Hunter have been together for five years and are getting married next year
A video has surfaced showing that Lenee needed encouragement from Colorado coach Deion Sanders to stand up and celebrate the moment Hunter won the award.
“This makes me so angry because anyone who knows me knows that I support Travis in every victory, in everything he does, because I truly love that man,” Lenee began in her speech from that moment.
‘He’s perfect in my eyes. When his name was called, I immediately wanted to… If you watch the video, you can see me [makes gesture to move forward out of seat]…But his mother did not get up. So I thought, “Oh, maybe I won’t get up. Maybe I’ll just sit here with her.” So I was sitting 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 husband.” But he didn’t have to do that, because I was going to do that anyway.
“As soon as I saw Travis stand up, I thought it would be appropriate to stand up, greet him and 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 the way people are online, I was like, “I don’t want to be in that recording, so I’m going to sit down.” So I tried to sit down. So I don’t look at the camera while I cry.
‘People will say, “Oh, why is she crying?” You know, that kind of thing. And so I purposefully stepped away from the camera so they could have their moment. That’s all it was. No one told me to get up. No one had to tell me to celebrate with him. I just sat there and cried. I wanted to take it with me too.
“I was super excited for him, but I wanted the moment to be about him and his family. And that’s something else. People say, “Why was he sitting next to her?” Why was his mother… We had assigned seats. We had assigned seats. I had no choice where I sat. They’re clearly going to bring someone and their partner together. So I sat right next to him because that was my assigned seat. I had no choice.
‘And then the cuddling. Travis came and hugged me because he was just passing the line. I was first in line, then his mother, then Coach Prime. He came directly to me first. I didn’t tell him to do that. I didn’t have to tell him anything. He’s a grown man. He can do whatever he wants.’
On a Twitch stream, Hunter told his fans to back off from their abuse of Lenee on social media
Lenee then closed the video: “But yeah, everyone makes this crazy, crazy story in their head, so I just wanted to clear it up. And that is the truth. That’s what happens in all those videos. And I won’t go into this again. I didn’t want to get into it, but here we are.”
The video comes in the wake of Hunter going on a Twitch stream and explaining that Lenee had gotten drunk and cried herself after all the negative criticism and abuse she had received online.
Hunter told people to stop targeting her, especially clickbait pages, social media accounts and websites.
“Clickbait pages stop, y’all better stop, I’m telling y’all. Something bad is going to happen to all of you [if you] keep doing that. You better stop doing that. “I’m not playing,” he said.
“Y’all hate me and then y’all gonna hate my girl,” the two-way star continued. ‘I feel the same as she does. We are inseparable. We are with each other. If she’s in pain, I’m in pain too.’
Hunter and Lenee have been dating for five years, according to the football star. They are getting married next year.