A video showed Lenee sitting down while Hunter received the award and Colorado head coach Deion Sanders reportedly told her to stand up, according to Marca. Some fans called out what they saw as an apparent lack of support for Hunter’s achievement. After the ceremony, another clip resurfaced. This time, it showed a fan meet-and-greet event in which fans deemed Lenee to appear upset at Hunter for posing with female fans.

Former NFL players and online personalities added to the criticism of Hunter and Lenee’s relationship, with Dez Bryant and Nate Burleson both suggesting she may have a negative impact on his career, Marca reported.

“Why would I break up with my girl because the internet want me to break up my girl? Just leave me alone,” Hunter said.

Lenee also publicly reacted to the online discourse and criticism.

“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,” she said in a video, according to Athlon Sports. “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 like she was about to stand]. 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.”

“As soon as I seen Travis get up, then I thought it was appropriate to stand up, greet him, congratulate him,” Lenee continued. “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.”

Hunter and Lenee have since deactivated their Instagram and TikTok accounts.

The couple received public support from fellow Colorado football player Shedeur Sanders. He called out criticism from fans and questioned whether critics were partaking in online discourse as a way to gain attention by using Hunter’s name.

“All y’all athletes, entertainers, artist etc if y’all genuine trying to holla at trav y’all know how to get in touch with him or someone around,” Shedeur wrote on X. “At this point y’all just posting for the algorithm trying to look cool.”