Former footballer, John Fashanu has revealed in an interview that he paid his late brother £75,000 not to go public as gay.
His brother, Justin, who played for Norwich and Nottingham Forest in the 1980s, took his own life in May 1998 and at the age of 37 after coming out as gay.
John Fashanu said,
“I make it very clear I was a monster to Justin then. I paid him £75,000 not to say that he was gay.
“I was looking at the situation around us and my mother had cancer and was dying, and the rest of the family couldn’t understand the situation.
“We didn’t know what to do, the best thing I thought to do was to keep it quiet.”
John Fashanu also spoke on how there’s a pressure on the FA to ensure that footballers can come out as gay without being made to feel uncomfortable.
“We have a number of well-known footballers who are gay and they don’t feel comfortable with the environment,” he said.
“They know their empires will be destroyed. It is supporters, administrators … not so much the players, because they know who is gay and who is not gay.
“They give each other support, but it is quite gentle support.
“We are pushing the FA needs to create an environment where gay footballers are comfortable to come out and say: ‘I’m gay”, he said.
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