University of Colorado wide receiver and cornerback Travis Hunter had a roller coaster weekend that included winning a prestigious award and having to defend his fiancée, Leanna Lenee.
Hunter, 21, won the 2024 Heisman Trophy on Dec. 14 by beating out Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel, Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty, and Miami quarterback Cam Ward.
“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,” Hunter said during his acceptance speech.
He continued, “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. 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.”
Hunter was joined in New York City’s Lincoln Center by Lenee, his mother Ferrante Harris, Colorado head coach Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders, and Colorado teammate Shedeur Sanders.
After the Heisman winner was announced, Sanders could be seen tapping Lenee on the shoulder to get up out of her seat as Hunter walked in their direction. Hunter then hugged his loved ones who were seated in the front row, starting with Lenee and then his mother.
Some people online took Sanders’ action as the retired NFL player subtly telling Lenee to stand up to show support for her future husband.
That narrative led to social media users slamming the 23-year-old Kennesaw State University graduate over the perceived slight to Hunter.
“Why she ain’t hyped about her man winning [the] HEISMAN???” an X user asked. Another person answered, “Cause it’s not shining light on her.”
A supporter of Lenee tweeted, “Maybe she didn’t wanna make the moment about her.” A critic replied, “By her doing that she made it about her.”
Yet another person offered, “Deion reached over to pat her shoulder in congratulations while Travis was heading over to hug her, and that caused her to stand.”
In addition, Lenee was accused of being a “gold digger” as many people warn Hunter to “get away” from the woman he plans to wed in May 2025.
“One minute y’all saying she trying to be in everything like she was shooting in the gym. Drop her. The next y’all saying she don’t want to be in the mix. Drop her,” read another tweet in defense of Hunter’s partner.
Apparently, the online hate caused Lenee to make changes to her internet presence by making her Instagram account private. She has more than 189,000 followers on the platform.
According to The Neighborhood Talk, Hunter shot back at his fiancée’s haters during a two-hour Twitch livestream. The clip of the Georgia native with his Heisman Trophy in the background has gone viral.
“You ain’t never had no girl, so why are you talking about me? Find something else to talk about, the Georgia native stated in the video. “Talking about my girl. Go find a girl. Go find a life. Stop worrying about what I got going on.”
He noted that no one had anything to say about Lenee within the five years he claims they have been dating until now.
Travis Hunter girlfriend was seen giving him attitude for taking pictures with fans at a schedule event: "Am I suppose to just sit here all day"😥
— Raphousetv (RHTV) (@raphousetv2) December 15, 2024
Thoughts???? Should Travis still be with her?? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/iAND583Fbz
Hunter added, “Y’all go do something else with y’all’s life. Clickbait pages, y’all better stop. I’m telling y’all. Something bad gonna happen to y’all, if y’all keep doing that. Y’all better stop that. I ain’t playing.”
He then went into explaining another viral video of him taking photos with fans at his pop-up shop, while Lenee can be seen sitting nearby on a couch, where she said, “Am I suppose to just sit here all day?”
“I had all my family there that’s why she said she gon’ stay there so they can get stuff, have fun there. Y’all want everything for clicks,” Hunter continued. “Y’all hate on me and then go and hate on my girl. I feel the same pain that she feels.”
The junior anthropology major also said about Lenee, “You know when you’re hurt but you just cry yourself to sleep? Chat, she drunk [like] an OD amount tonight for no reason.”
Hours later, video clips from a critic claiming to have shocking details about Lenee’s life before she began dating Hunter emerged online. In a video by YouTuber, House Of Hypocrites, viewers can see screenshots of commentators on his last Travis Hunter video, including many who alleged that Lenee “used to dance at The Cheetah gentlemen’s club in Atlanta” during the pandemic.
The YouTuber reached out to one of the individuals who gave him a phone number he had for Lenee, which he claimed to confirm via Cash App. He noticed later that the name on the money app was also the name of a social media user who viewed his story on Instagram.
Man exposes Travis Hunter girlfriend for having an OnlyFans in 2020 🤦🏾♂️ Travis is in for a rude awakening pic.twitter.com/nudepF7XvW
— Poetik Flakko (@FlakkoPoetik) December 16, 2024
The man added that the commentator then sent him a “collage” of evidence linking Lenee to the club, with a contact list and a montague of since-deleted social media posts.
“She say n—a way more than I say n—a, I swear to God. And that ain’t a good look,” the man stated.
Due to the resurfaced video about Lenee’s past was originaly shared on Dec. 8, fans are unsure what to think.
“That’s probably how they met,” said one spectator, while another asked, “Was this not before they started dating?”
Lenee on the subscription-based platform in 2020 according to the X post. Though many reminded others that content creators have used the money-making app to also share beind the scenes access or exclusive content that they were not posting on other platforms such as YouTube and Instagram.
“Onlyfans isn’t just nudes weirdos lol” one Lenee defender explained.
Two others said, “If he’s happy let him be” and “Man leave this chick alone if he don’t care neither should y’all.”
The man claimed he reached to Lenee via the phone number he received for a statement but got no response.
Yet, Hunter still got pushback on The Neighborhood Talk’s Instagram page. For instance, one comment read, “Ladies this is an example of a man loving a woman more than she loves him. She does no wrong in his eyes.”
An additional poster offered, “Same way [you’re] defending her, she should’ve been the first to stand up and clap and celebrate when ur achieving something big.”
This was not the first time Lenee has faced the wrath of internet trolls. After Colorado defeated Oklahoma State on Nov. 29, she appeared to have gotten into a postgame argument with Hunter.
As the video of the exchange spread, fans blamed Lenee for trying to overshadow her fiancé’s on-field performance which included the two-way star amassing 116 yards, three touchdowns, and an interception.
Despite the vitriol directed at his longtime girlfriend, Hunter proudly posted a photo to his Instagram page of him with his Heisman Trophy and Leanna by his side.
Hunter captioned the picture, “Thank You GOD.” He also limited the comments for that particular post which collected more than 255,000 likes, so far.
There are numerous pics of the couple on Hunter’s Instagram account. On a Nov. 30-dated post he referred to Lenee as “queen.” The following day, he captioned another photo with his soon-to-be wife, “Me & You.”
Hunter met Lenee while attending Collins Hill High School in the Atlanta exurb of Suwanee. He first attended Jackson State University in Jackson, Mississippi, in 2022 before transferring to Colorado for the 2023 season when Coach Prime made the jump from JSU to CU.
The pair started the “Travis and Leanna” YouTube channel in May 2022. They currently have 107,000 subscribers. Their most recent video titled “Leanna Goes Wedding Dress Shopping!!” was published on Aug. 25.
