FX's "American Sports Story : Aaron Hernandez "

[Ali Gator]

I've been watching this series from Ryan Murphy (he's been pretty busy with three of his projects debuting in the past few weeks), available on FX (plus FX 'VoD'), Disney+, and Hulu.

It's not bad, as it tells the story of the once-promising Patriots football sensation from the 2010s who went down in history as a murderer. Hernandez was said to be gay by many of his friends and family, and this series doesn't back away (starting with a gay romance he had in high school). No frontal nudity, but some 'ass scenes' in the locker rooms, and suggestive sex / masturbation scenes.

The actor who plays Hernandez looks nothing like him (though some gay viewers find him more attractive than AH), but he does deliver a very good / believable performance.

 

American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez movie review (2024) | Roger Ebert

WWW.ROGEREBERT.COM

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Even though American Sports Story has compelling drama to tap into, it never exceeds the level of a Lifetime series.

 

Edited October 1, 2024 by Ali Gator

[BuffaloKyle]

2 hours ago, Ali Gator said:

Hernandez was said to be gay by many of his friends and family

For those who don't know about this aspect of the story. From wikipedia:

On August 22, 2013, Hernandez was indicted by a grand jury for the murder of Lloyd; he pled not guilty on September 6, 2013. On April 15, 2015, he was found guilty of murder in the first degree, a charge that in Massachusetts automatically carries a sentence of life in prison without any possibility of parole; he also was found guilty of five firearm charges. A motive for the murder was never definitively established. Police investigated the possibility that Lloyd may have learned of Hernandez's bisexuality and that Hernandez was worried that Lloyd might out him to others.

According to Hernandez's brother D.J., Hernandez was also sexually molested as a child. A teenage boy in his babysitter's house forced Hernandez to perform oral sex on him beginning when Hernandez was six years old and continuing for several years.

Following Hernandez's death, a high school teammate, Dennis SanSoucie, described a secret homosexual relationship between the two between the 7th and 11th grades. The teammate stated that Hernandez had many sexual partners during this time. Hernandez's brother D.J., mother Terri, and attorney George Leontire report that Hernandez came out as gay to his mother and ex-girlfriend while in prison. Leontire, who is also gay, said his client "clearly was gay" and described the "immense pain that it caused him" and the self-hatred that came from growing up in a culture that was anti-gay. According to Leontire, Hernandez believed that the sexual abuse he experienced as a boy caused him to become gay. A college girlfriend said that "he never dealt with [the sexual abuse]. It led to issues in his sexuality." SanSoucie stated that Hernandez was terrified that his father would find out about his homosexuality.

After listening to more than 300 recorded phone calls, The Boston Globe reported that Hernandez was "prone to going on homophobic rants" and that, in one phone call, he admitted he was attracted to men and said it made him "angry all the time". Patriots receiver Brandon Lloyd said that he had been warned by teammate Wes Welker that Hernandez would expose his genitalia and talk about gay sex.

Prosecutors intended to raise the issue of his sexuality during the 2012 double homicide trial, a prospect that frightened Hernandez. He wished to keep his sexuality a secret. After his death, his fiancée Jenkins stated that she saw no indication that he was gay. She said, "I wish I had known how he felt, just so we could have talked about it. I wouldn't have disowned him. I would have been supportive. I can't fault him if he was feeling that way. When you love someone so much you just want to be there to support them. The fact that he felt he couldn't come out to me or he couldn't tell me these things hurts, because we had that bond. I've accepted that he may have been the way he was said to be, or that it may not be true. Regardless, I won't know."