American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez, premiering on FX on September 17th and produced by Ryan Murphy, attempts to depict the tragic downfall of Aaron Hernandez, a former NFL star, from fame to convicted murderer.
In 2013, just 10 months after Hernandez signed a $40 million contract with the New England Patriots, he was apprehended and accused of killing Odin Lloyd, the boyfriend of his fiancée’s sister. He was found guilty in 2015 and, two years later, was found deceased in his prison cell after taking his own life by hanging himself with a bedsheet. He was only 27 years old.
This tragic tale serves as a compelling subject for Ryan Murphy, renowned for his sensational dramas and docu-series that explore high-profile criminal cases 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 meticulously documented Hernandez’s rise and fall. Additionally, a separate 2020 Netflix documentary, The Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez, also delved into Hernandez’s life.
Murphy’s 10-episode scripted series expands upon these previous accounts and portrays Hernandez (played by Josh Rivera) as a troubled athlete who struggled with maintaining relationships due to substance abuse issues. He was driven by frustrations stemming from a turbulent home life and deep-seated anxieties about revealing his true sexual orientation.
How American Sports Story portrays Aaron Hernandez’s sexuality
In the show, Hernandez has a fiancée, Shayanna Jenkins (Jaylen Barron), and a young daughter, but struggles with a hidden same-sex attraction. Flashbacks depict him as a high school football player engaging in self-gratification with gay pornography. The Gladiator podcast uncovered that Hernandez’s father, Dennis, was deeply homophobic and frequently used derogatory terms for gay men. Consequently, American Sports Story depicts Hernandez’s internal conflict and guilt surrounding his sexuality—at one point he becomes distracted during an NFL draft interview as he imagines his father repeatedly calling him a “faggot.”
Within the series, Hernandez engages in sexual encounters with men in bathroom stalls at the University of Florida, where he was considered the best tight end in U.S. college football, while simultaneously seeking guidance from his evangelical Christian teammate, Tim Tebow (Patrick Schwarzenegger), on how to change himself.
Later, Hernandez is depicted with Dennis Sansoucie (Kalama Epstein), who in reality claims to have had an on-and-off relationship with Hernandez. In the show, the two embark on a romantic getaway to Mexico while Shayanna is left behind in Boston.
Aaron Hernandez’s brain
Following Lloyd’s murder, there has been speculation about whether a brain injury played a role in Hernandez’s actions. Researchers at Boston University (BU) who examined Hernandez’s brain after his death observed a severe case of the traumatic brain injury known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). In fact, it was the most severe case of CTE the BU researchers had seen in a young person. Hernandez had been playing tackle football since the age of 8, and he had experienced two documented concussions—one in high school and another while playing for the Patriots.
“It’s impossible for me to look at the severity of CTE in Mr. Hernandez’s brain and not think that that had a profound effect on his behavior,” neurologist Sam Gandy, who analyzed brain scans, says on the Gladiator podcast. However, BU neurologist Bob Cantu points out that while impulsivity is a common symptom of CTE, authorities stated that the Lloyd murder was premeditated. Notably, of all the brains the BU researchers had examined, “not one of those brains with the exception of Aaron were involved with homicide, to my knowledge,” Cantu says on the Gladiator podcast. “They all have CTE. So I think I’ll just leave it at that.”
The podcast also suggests Hernandez’s unpredictable behavior is linked to drug use. The motive for the Lloyd killing remains unclear, but according to the podcast, Hernandez disliked certain individuals who were associating with Lloyd and believed they were disrespecting him.
American Sports Story also underscores the influence of Hernandez’s troubled upbringing on his violent tendencies. The Gladiator podcast details recurrent physical abuse within his home in Bristol, Connecticut. His father, a high school star athlete nicknamed “The King,” never realized his full athletic potential and worked as a janitor. In the series, he channels his frustrations towards Aaron and his brother D.J., yelling and chasing them around the house.
The series also emphasizes Hernandez’s immaturity. He graduated high school early to pursue college football and then left college early to play for the New England Patriots. In a foreshadowing comment about Hernandez, Florida coach Urban Meyer (Tony Yazbeck) says “that kid’s going to end up in the hall of fame—or prison.”
