Colorado Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders weighed in on his former player Travis Hunter’s choice to step back from social media after some folks had a lot to say about his fiancée, Leanna Lenee.
Hunter and Lenee hit the pause button on their Instagram accounts on December 23, Justin a few days after Hunter snagged the Heisman Trophy. The chatter online during the awards show wasn’t all love; there were some pretty rough comments about the couple. Fortunately, Hunter’s account is back up and running now. Sanders shared his thoughts on Hunter’s situation during an interview on the “Tamron Hall Show.”
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“It hurt me that he did,” Sanders said of Hunter’s deactivation. “What the enemy wants you to do is stop. You have endorsements, you have people that have sponsored you to talk about their product,” Sanders said. “We have to activate right now.”
Sanders didn’t hold back when he called out Hunter for stepping back, saying that his decision leaves him open to more “attacks.”
“When somebody stays still, now you got a chance to attack, and I hate the stillness of that. Keep on moving. Don’t let the enemy get you while you’re still and you’re having a pity party on yourself,” Sanders said, adding that’s what he told Hunter about the situation.
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Hunter opened up about what went down during a Twitch live stream, revealing that his fiancée was so upset she cried herself to sleep and turned to drinking because of all the backlash. Lenee had tried to tackle the negativity head-on by posting a video on her TikTok on December 16, hoping to put an end to the drama.
“I’m tired, emotionally and mentally. I’ve seen people trying to make me out to be a person that I am not,” Lenee said in her response video.
At least one clip making the rounds on social media caught Lenee still sitting in her seat right after Hunter was announced as the 2024 Heisman winner. Deion Sanders even seemed to encourage her to stand up. She did get up for a quick hug with Hunter, but then she sat back down during the crowd’s standing ovation.
More footage showed Lenee staying seated while Hunter mingled and snapped pics with fans at an event in New York City the day after the Heisman ceremony. Some fans started picking apart her vibe at the event, even speculating that she looked a bit annoyed.
“When his name was called, I instantly was going to get up. If you watch the video, his mom didn’t get up, so I was like, ‘Oh, maybe I don’t get up, I just sit here,’” she said. “As soon as I seen 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 sat down.
“I got out of the camera, purposefully, so they can have their moment. That’s all it was. No one told me to stand up. No one had to tell me to celebrate with him. I was just sitting there crying. I wanted to take it in. I was super excited for him. But I wanted the moment to be about him and his family.”
