‘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

gianni versace aids american crime story
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.

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