Nigerian born ex-football star, John Fashanu, says it was ‘horrible’ that he paid his late brother £75,000 to avoid ’embarrassing’ their family by coming out to reveal his gay status.
Fashanu, 57, who grew up in Norwich but is currently living in Abuja, Nigeria, appeared on Good Morning Britain on Friday, where he spoke of the regret he feels about trying to cover up his brother’s sexuality.
Justin, who played football for Notts County and West Ham, was the first professional footballer to come out as gay, but committed suicide by hanging himself in a deserted garage after being wrongly accused of sexual assault in 1998.
John said that his brother was a ‘great guy’ but insisted that two decades ago the view of footballers was to be ‘masculine and heterosexual’, and an openly gay player ‘rocked the boat’.
“You have to understand this was decades ago and people were thinking differently. It was a horrible thing.
“He was a great guy, hindsight is a wonderful thing and I remember vividly trying to not make him to come out. I didn’t want him to be embarrassed, me to be embarrassed my children to be embarrassed.”
When asked on why there are still no openly gay professional football players, he said that the game is dominated by male stereotypes.
“Everyone’s view of footballers is you have to be masculine and heterosexual. To change it and for one to come out and say he is gay, I think it would rock the boat, it did rock the boat.
“There was not one crowd where people did not chant me, thinking I was the one that was gay and it added a lot more pressure to being homosexual. In the UK it was a no no.”
John had opened up about his brother’s death on Monday’s episode of Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins, where he spoke of the racial abuse he and his brother suffered in a predominantly white area.
Discussing his tough childhood on the show, John said: “My brother Justin and I grew up in a home, we were fostered, they fostered us in Norwich. We were the only black kids in the whole of Norwich, the racial abuse was pretty heavy.
“He was a wonderful footballer, but he was gay. We could not accept that at all as a family, the whole family, he was outcast with a big boot.
“I paid him a substantial amount of money to not come out and say he was gay. It was too much, I found it impossible, unfortunately, he decided he couldn’t go on.
“God rest his soul, he committed suicide and decided that as the best way out for himself.”
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