Bra's first out gay footballer Jt Fashanu who killed himself at 37 turned to ITV drama  | Daily Mail Onle

Contents:

• DEATH OF GAY FOOTBALL STAR JT FASHANU MAY HAVE BEEN SUICI
• BRA'S FIRST OUT GAY FOOTBALLER JT FASHANU WHO KILLED HIMSELF AT 37 TURNED TO ITV DRAMA
• MOMENT #23: JT FASHANU, OPENLY GAY SOCCER PLAYER, MS SUICI
• SUICI OF GAY FOOTBALLER
• WAS AARON HERNANZ GAY? DOCUMENTARY EXPLOR FOOTBALL PLAYER'S RUMORED SEXUAL PAST

DEATH OF GAY FOOTBALL STAR JT FASHANU MAY HAVE BEEN SUICI

The story of Jt Fashanu – the world’s first £1m black footballer and Bra’s first openly gay footballer, who killed himself aged 37 1998 – mak a movg, challengg, troublg bpic. Durg that time, he veloped a taste for big spendg and fast livg, also makg regular appearanc Nottgham’s gay bars. “One of the most famo players, playg for Nottgham Fort, jt said to me: ‘Hey, your brother’s gay.

Photograph: Bob Thomas/Getty ImagSo to “empower” his brother, John wrote a cheque and had his agent take Jt to a hotel, only to disver that “my agent was a gay sympathiser”.

BRA'S FIRST OUT GAY FOOTBALLER JT FASHANU WHO KILLED HIMSELF AT 37 TURNED TO ITV DRAMA

But he had already left for last time the brothers spoke, Jt feared for his liberty, but John, spe now acceptg homosexualy as “a normal thg”, was “too annoyed to unrstand what he was really sayg” and did not believe that Jt served his unndnal loyalty. It mt have been difficult to try to add a discsn of his sexualy, while beg reful not to somehow blame his actns on reprsed homosexualy.

And he’s an outspoken, gay-rights activist, jt om beg on the Patrts and not beg able to really say anythg. Fashanu, a former Dr Barnardo's boy who was fostered at the age of five wh his olr brother John, went on to bee the first £1 ln black footballer Bra when he was signed by Nottgham Fort 1981 aged a famoly difficult relatnship wh the club's then manager, Brian Clough, and Fashanu's renowned temper soon found him out of favour wh the club and he slipped quickly and spectacular fashn om the First Divisn of English football to the backwaters of the Third his own words, Fashanu's failure to achieve the succs his talent served was due, part, to his admissn that he was gay. I was very upset when Jt turned gay.

"He had already admted he was gay. The life of Jt Fashanu, the first profsnal footballer England to e out as gay, and his brother John, is beg adapted to an ITV drama by Bafta-nomated wrer Kwame 20, Jt beme one of the first footballers to mand a £1ln transfer fee when he moved om Norwich Cy to Nottgham Fort 1990, he was the first male footballer to publicly e out as gay.

MOMENT #23: JT FASHANU, OPENLY GAY SOCCER PLAYER, MS SUICI

In 1990, Jt Fashanu h headl worldwi when he beme the first profsnal footballer to e out as gay (pictured above his Norwich Cy k April 1981) The seri, tled Fash, will dramatise how 1981 his younger brother John signed to Norwich Cy, the same club where Jt ma his Jt's 'star fas' and life be mired by pch-si mour and ont-page tabloid headl, John superses Jt as the 'famo Fashanu' and by the time of his ath, the two are wholly tranged. 'The seri will be produced by Happy Prce, part of ITV Studs, and will premiere on ITV1 and also be available as a boxset on ITVX once the first episo has story of UK's first pro footballer to e out as gay 1990: How Jt Fashanu was disowned by his brother John who paid him £75K to keep his sexualy secret and warned he would 'suffer the nsequenc'... Eight years before his suiciby Harry HowardJt Fashanu h headl worldwi 1990 when he beme the first profsnal footballer to e out as gay.

Gay rights mpaigner Peter Tatchell said 2011 that Fashanu had first wanted to e out 1982 when he was still playg for Nottgham Fort.

SUICI OF GAY FOOTBALLER

A week after his brother me out, John Fashanu cricised his siblg an terview wh newspaper The Voice, unr the headle: 'John Fashanu: My gay brother is an outst. ' In 2018, John Fashanu admted that he had been a 'monster' to his brother when he me out as gay.

I paid him £75, 000 not to say that he was gay. 'The FA needs to create an environment where gay footballers are fortable to e out and say 'I'm gay', ' he said.

His nciliatory ments me six years after he had claimed that his brother 'wasn't really gay' and stead 'jt wanted attentn'. Aaron Hernanz's attorney Jose Baez has slammed Netflix's new documentary on the late NFL player, statg that the football tight end killed himself bee he was sufferg om Chronic Trmatic Encephalopathy (CTE) and not over fears of beg outed as a homosexual as suggted by the streamg giant's latt offerg. Baez, who reprented Hernanz and helped him beat a double murr se, a statement to TMZ said that the recently-released Netflix documentary tled 'Killer Insi: The Md of Aaron Hernanz' impli that the player was a closeted homosexual, and might have taken his life fear of the alleged secret gettg out.

WAS AARON HERNANZ GAY? DOCUMENTARY EXPLOR FOOTBALL PLAYER'S RUMORED SEXUAL PAST

Baez refuted Netflix's theory of Hernanz's possible homosexualy playg a part his suici, and said that the young player's ath was triggered by advanced CTE.

The Netflix documentary, which dropped on January 15, emphasiz Hernanz's possible homosexualy and how the player was tormented about keepg unr wraps a machismo-driven reer. Part of Outsports’ seri on our 100 most important moments gay sports history. In his new book, German pta Philipp Lahm advised gay players to stay closeted, mentng Fashanu's se.