‘American Crime Story’ Fact Check: Did Gianni Versace Have AIDS?
This question is one of the reasons why the Versace family hates the book that “The Assassination of Gianni Versace” is based on
Phil Owen | January 24, 2018 @ 7:28 PM
Last Updated: January 25, 2018 @ 7:25 AM
FX
(Some spoilers ahead for the second episode of “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story.”)
The second episode of “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story” goes ahead and delves into the single biggest point of contention between the Versace family and the book “Vulgar Favors” by Maureen Orth: the contention that Gianni Versace contracted HIV and was suffering from AIDS before he was murdered by Andrew Cunanan.
“Vulgar Favors” is the source material for the show, and so this particular detail was bound to come up sooner or later. And come up it does.
While none of the characters in this episode ever explicitly say that Gianni Versace (Edgar Ramirez) had AIDS when he visits a hospital at the beginning of the episode (in a scene set in 1994) for some kind of treatment for something that Versace clearly thinks he won’t recover from, the tell comes a bit later. There’s a scene that takes place later that day in which his sister Donatello (Penelope Cruz) is berating Gianni’s partner Antonio D’Amico (Ricky Martin) for encouraging Gianni to have sex with other men — implying that their trysts were responsible for Gianni’s illness.
There is no debate, to be clear, about whether Versace was suffering from a major illness in the mid ’90s — it’s the “what” that’s at issue here. The Versace family has long maintained that he had cancer in his ear for a couple years, and that after treatment Versace was declared cancer-free six months before his death. Orth, on the other hand, says a Miami detective told her that the medical examiner who did Versace’s postmortem blood work that Versace had AIDS.
She also has sources who had visited the mansion prior to his murder who said he had dozens of bottles of pills on a table, and that for long stretches of time he was too weak to get around without help. That’s not exactly firm evidence on its own, of course — the only hard source for her info is the detective. And Orth herself notes that the detective shouldn’t have had access to the results of his blood test.
It’s an issue that has never been settled officially, because no autopsy was performed before Versace’s body was cremated. Not that it actually matters, because whether or not he had AIDS is irrelevant to the facts of the murder.
In “Vulgar Favors,” Orth mentions that Miami PD detective Paul Scrimshaw, the same detective who told Orth that Versace was HIV positive, speculated initially that one possible motivation for Versace’s murder was that Versace had given it to Cunanan (that’s in chapter 38). However, Cunanan’s autopsy showed that he was free of the virus, officially ending that line of speculation.
The question of whether Gianni Versace had AIDS is almost certainly one that will never be answered, short of the family releasing his medical records to the public. Given that it’s been two decades since the murder and that hasn’t happened yet, it probably isn’t going to. For more on this discussion from the cast and crew of “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story,” check out this excellent feature about the matter over at THR.
Every 'American Horror Story: Cult' Character, Ranked by How Likely It Is That They're a Murderous Clown (Photos)
When "American Horror Story: Cult," kicked off on Sept. 5, fans immediately started speculating that some of the weirdness between the show's characters could be a clown cult conspiracy. After eight episodes most of their suspicions have been confirmed, but now members are turning against each other, and people who were in are trying to find way s to take the cult down. Warning: Spoilers!
FX
Oz Mayfair-Richards (Cooper Dodson)
Seeing as Oz is a kid, we can be pretty sure he’s not a member of the clown murder cult. But we now know he's an integral part of at least some of the cult's plans. Could little Oz be on the recruitment list? And how is he going to react when he starts to learn the truth? Maybe he'll gather a clown-fighting posse of local kids, a la the movie "It."
FX
Dr. Rudy Vincent (Cheyenne Jackson)
Poor Vincent. Despite being Kai and Winter's brother, it turns out he really didn't know anything about the clown cult -- until it was too late. Vincent really should have listened to Ally all this time, instead of disbelieving her while never realizing that the guy responsible for her torment was his brother all along.
FX
RJ (James Morosini)
Beverly Hope's cameraman was revealed to be a part of the cult when "American Horror Story: Cult" finally took all the masks off, but he's one member who hasn't been fully on board with all the murders. He might have wanted to keep his mouth shut, though, since Kai and Beverly made an example out of him to prove everyone else's loyalty. It seems likely that'll create some more dissension in the ranks, and soon fans will be guessing who's about to try to leave the cult, rather than who's joining up.
FX
Beverly Hope (Adina Porter)
After Kai got his spot on the city council, he immediately started sidelining the women in the group. Beverly isn't happy about it -- she previously was Kai's favorite cultist and his second-in-command, but now she's thinking about betrayal, and helped get rid of Harrison to start it. It seems she underestimated how much she could trust Winter, though, but Kai hasn't killed her yet. There might yet be time for Beverly to get free and start a cult of her own.
FX
Ivy Mayfair-Richards (Alison Pill)
Fans immediately started to believe Ivy might be in on the clown cult after the first episode, when clowns repeatedly tormented her wife, Ally, but Ivy saw nothing. Now we know Ivy was using the clowns to try to get out of her marriage and grab custody of her son. After Kai started cutting out the women, though, it seems that Ivy is rethinking her choices. It might be too little, too late though, since Ally is now part of the cult, much to Ivy's shock.
FX
Winter Anderson (Billie Lourd)
It turns out Kai's sister is among his biggest supporters, which isn't totally shocking. But now that he seems to have replaced her and the other women in the cult's power structure, Winter's loyalties seem to be fluctuating -- starting with taking out Harrison and Samuels. But she was still loyal enough to pick Kai over Vincent and Beverly.
FX
Ally Mayfair-Richards (Sarah Paulson)
Ally was the cult's target for the longest time, but as she said in Episode 8, Kai's torment might have actually cured her of all her phobias. She's definitely got a plan, and she's executing it -- by joining the cult. Ally turned on Vincent without much trouble, but is she really backing Kai, or does she mean to dismantle the whole thing from the inside?
FX
Detective Samuels (Colton Haynes)
There have been hints all along that Detective Samuels might be in on the cult. He showed up conveniently at key points in several investigations, and when it turned out he was dating Harrison, there seemed to be no way he wasn't helping the clowns out. We finally found out how Kai brought him aboard, only to watch him bite a bullet for being a sexist Neo-Nazi.
FX
Bebe Babbit (Frances Conroy)
Appearing out of nowhere to warn the women of Kai's cult against him, it turned out that Zodiac killer Bebe is actually working with Kai. She might not be a full murder member of the clown cult, but she's definitely helping the leader execute his master plans -- which seem to involve literally cutting some people out.
FX
Gary Longstreet (Chaz Bono)
When the clown masks came off, finding Gary underneath one was about pretty unsurprising. After all, this was the guy who cut off his own hand so he could make sure to vote. He also was clearly involved in one of the first clown cult appearances to torment Ally. Gary's a true believer, that much is obvious.
FX
Harrison Wilton (Billy Eichner)
Harrison became one of Kai's most committed acolytes. He clearly saw Kai as having saved, and salvaged, his failing life. Harrison was fully on board with all kinds of murder and mayhem, without hesitation. It wasn't enough to stop Beverly, Ivy and Winter from slicing him up, though.
FX
Meadow Wilton (Leslie Grossman)
The big twist in the sixth episode of "American Horror Story: Cult" revealed that there's nobody more fanatically dedicated to Kai than Meadow. She played double agent beautifully, and went all-in for Kai in a way that probably no one else in the cult would.
FX
Kai Anderson (Evan Peters)
Kai has a plan for world domination in the wake of Donald Trump’s election, and his clown murder cult is helping him do it. As things begin to pick up speed with Kai's faked assassination attempt, though, it's becoming clear there's more to his strategy than even his followers know. That, or he's completely lost it.
FX
Twisty the Clown (John Carroll Lynch)
There’s no denying that Twisty the Clown is literally a murderous clown. So far, though, he doesn’t seem to be a real murderous clown, but a fictional one. He’s only appeared in Oz’s comic books and dreams, so he might just be a tormenting, gross-faced monster showing up to confuse the other characters about what’s real and what’s in their heads.
FX
1 of 15
Alliances are fraying in the murder cult
When "American Horror Story: Cult," kicked off on Sept. 5, fans immediately started speculating that some of the weirdness between the show's characters could be a clown cult conspiracy. After eight episodes most of their suspicions have been confirmed, but now members are turning against each other, and people who were in are trying to find way s to take the cult down. Warning: Spoilers!
FX
FX
