How American Sports Story Dramatizes the Aaron Hernandez Case

As a movie buff with a keen interest in true crime narratives and a soft spot for tragic tales, I find myself both intrigued and apprehensive about FX’s upcoming series, American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez. The series, produced by Ryan Murphy, promises to delve into the heart-wrenching story of a man who rose to NFL stardom only to descend into darkness.

“True Crime Drama: The Fall of Aaron Hernandez

In 2013, around ten months following Aaron Hernandez’s $40 million deal with the New England Patriots, he was taken into custody for the murder of Odin Lloyd, who was the boyfriend of his fiancée’s sister. Convicted in 2015, Hernandez took his own life at the age of 27 by hanging himself with a bedsheet, two years later, within his prison cell.

The tragedy is an obvious subject for Murphy, known for his lurid dramas and docu-series about high-profile crimes like American Crime Story and Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. This latest FX series is a dramatization of a podcast, Gladiator: Aaron Hernandez and Football Inc., in which Boston Globe journalists chronicled his rise and fall. A separate 2020 Netflix documentary, The Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez, also examined Hernandez’s life.

In the new 10-episode series based on Murphy’s script, Josh Rivera portrays Hernandez, a struggling athlete. This character has a history of damaging relationships due to substance abuse issues with drugs and alcohol. His actions are driven by unresolved family problems and apprehensions about exposing his real sexual identity.

How American Sports Story portrays Aaron Hernandez’s sexuality

In the series, Hernandez is engaged to Shayanna Jenkins (Jaylen Barron) and has a newborn baby, yet he secretly identifies as gay. Flashbacks depict him as a high school football player, privately watching gay adult content. The Gladiator podcast disclosed that Hernandez’s father, Dennis, was intolerant towards homosexuality, often using derogatory terms for gay men. Therefore, the show American Sports Story explores Hernandez’s internal struggle with his sexual orientation, where at one point he becomes distracted during an NFL draft interview as he mentally hears his father repeatedly calling him a derogatory term.

In the show, Hernandez is depicted as forming relationships with men in campus restrooms at the University of Florida, a place where he was renowned as the top tight end in American college football. Simultaneously, he seeks guidance from his devoutly Christian teammate, Tim Tebow (portrayed by Patrick Schwarzenegger), on personal transformation.

Later, Hernandez is spotted with Dennis Sansoucie (Kalama Epstein), who in actuality claims they had an intermittent relationship with Hernandez. On the series, the pair travel to Mexico for a romantic vacation, leaving Shayanna behind in Boston.

Aaron Hernandez’s brain

Following Lloyd’s tragic death, there has been much discussion about whether Hernandez’s brain injury might have influenced his behavior. Researchers from Boston University (BU), who examined Hernandez’s brain post-mortem, found an extreme case of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). In fact, it was the most severe instance of CTE in a young person that these BU researchers had encountered. Hernandez played tackle football from the age of 8 and sustained two confirmed concussions – one during his high school years and another while he was playing for the Patriots.

In simpler terms, Dr. Sam Gandy, who examined brain scans, believes it’s hard not to connect the severe signs of CTE in Mr. Hernandez’s brain with his behavioral changes. However, Dr. Bob Cantu from BU points out that while impulsivity is a characteristic of CTE, the Lloyd murder was premeditated. Among all brains examined by BU researchers, as far as Dr. Cantu knows, none except Aaron’s were linked to homicide. The podcast also implies that Hernandez’s strange behavior might be due to drug use, but the motive behind the Lloyd killing remains unclear. According to prosecutors, Hernandez was upset because he didn’t like some people Lloyd was talking to and perceived them as mocking him.

The American Sports Story offers an insight into how Hernandez’s turbulent childhood shaped his aggressive demeanor. On the “Gladiator” podcast, it is revealed that physical abuse was a regular occurrence in his home in Bristol, Connecticut. His father, once a high school sports legend known as “The King,” failed to achieve his dreams and instead worked as a janitor. In the series, we see him venting his disappointments on Aaron and his brother D.J., often shouting and chasing them around the house.

The show highlights Hernandez’s premature immaturity. He completed high school ahead of schedule to play college football and abandoned his college career early to join the New England Patriots. In a prophetic remark, Florida’s coach Urban Meyer (Tony Yazbeck) predicted, “That kid will either make it to the Hall of Fame… or end up in prison.

2024-09-17 17:06

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