FOOTBALLER JOHN FASHANU REVEALS HE PAID BROTHER JUSTIN N23m NOT TO COME OUT AS GAY.

JUSTIN FASHANU

JOHN FASHANU

JOHN FASHANU AND DAUGHTER AMAL

Nigerian football star of old, John Fashanu has confessed how he paid his brother, Justin Fashanu also a football star of the 1980s N23,000,000.00 (Seventy five thousand British Pounds) not to come out publicly as a gay so as not to bring embarrassment upon him and his family.

Justin Fashanu was begged and threatened to stay quiet but he came out in an exclusive interview with the Sun newspaper in 1990 to state publicly that he was gay. He was the first black footballer to come out open and was also the first black footballer to earn a one million British Pounds transfer fee when he moved to play in Nottingham Forest F/C in 1981.

John Fashanu states that when Justin first informed him that he was gay and was planning to go public with the announcement, he was shocked and tried to talk him out of it even giving him the money to buy his silence. He was, however, shocked when 2 days later Justin’s interview came out in the Sun newspaper. He says it was a total shock to him and his family.

John Fashanu says this public outing by Justin caused Justin a lot of ridicule from soccer fans who taunted him during matches making him to move to the United States where he played for a number of teams in the wee period of his career. Justin Fashanu would eventually commit suicide.

The impact of Justin’s revelation was much on the family leading also to the death of their mother due to resultant stress.

John Fashanu, however, states that had Justin come out now that the perception of homosexuality is changing in some societies his handling of the situation would have been different. His acknowledges that it was ignorance on his part and in the process he lost his brother.

He credits his change of thinking on the issue of gays to his daughter, Amal Fashanu, a strong advocate of gay rights, who has presented a documentary on gay footballers in 2012. He says she helped him change his thought on homosexuality and speaks in support of her late uncle, Justin Fashanu.