American Crime Story season 2, episode 5 questions and answers
By Sandy C.
When did Gianni Versace come out as gay? Was Jeffrey Trail really interviewed about being gay? Did the fifth episode of American Crime Story season two feature mostly facts or fiction?
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Missed tonight’s episode? Spoilers ahead!
The latest episode of The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell,” explores the relationship between Andrew Cunanan and Jeffrey Trail (Cunanan’s first victim). Tonight, the series also (finally) brought back Gianni, Donatella, and Antonio — all characters we are more interested in than Cunanan, to be honest — and feature the moment Versace publicly came out as gay to the world.
We’ve done the research to bring you the facts! What really happened according to articles and videos we found online and what was fabricated by Ryan Murphy to create the second season of American Crime Story?
Gianni Versace
In the episode, Gianni informs his sister Donatella that he will be coming out as gay. She’s against it and doesn’t think it’s a good idea for the business. And, as usual, blames Antonio for Gianni’s decision. We were unable to find the interview in which Gianni Versace comes out as gay to the world, but The Advocate and Romper cover more on the topic if you’d like to give their pieces a read.
There really were many rumors that Perry Ellis suffered from AIDS a few years before his death, particularly after being seen at one of his fashion shows looking abnormally thin. There are more reports that claim Ellis did die from an illness that was AIDS-related than those who deny it. Either way, we were not able to find footage of the scene Penelope Cruz’s Donatella tells her brother Gianni about in episode five.
Jeffrey Trail
Finally, a piece of evidence that was found — The 48 Hours interview Trail did with Richard Schlesinger. According to CBS, Schlesinger comments that Trail “chose to speak to us because he thought it was the right thing to do. He did the interview in silhouette but he was still taking a tremendous risk with his career. He had absolutely nothing to gain by doing the interview.”
Next: Who were the real David Madson and Jeffrey Trail?
More on Trail: Trail, a graduate of the Naval Academy, was 28-years-old at the time of his murder. According to a news article from Vanity Fair, Trail and Cunanan were very close friends, but never romantically involved, so says Trail’s family. Others, however, claim that Trail and Cunanan briefly dated and remained close friends after. He was found dead just as portrayed in the series, beaten to death by approximately 25 blows to the head with a hammer, his body wrapped in a carpet behind Madson’s couch in his apartment.
The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story airs new episodes every Wednesday night only on FX!