Hey there friends! Welcome back to another heavy chapter in “The Versace Verdict”. In this weeks episode titled, Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” we got to peel another layer back on this case by taking a look at the life of Jeff Trail, Cunanan’s first murder victim. Aside from the Jeff Trail story, we also got a small look into Gianni Versace’s struggle to officially come out to the world, Andrew Cunanan’s relationship with David, and some dark insight on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”. Well I’m already exhausted, but let’s do it.
Jeff Trail and Dont Ask Don’t Tell
Well first of all, Finn Wittrock did an incredible job of portraying Jeff. As someone who has seen every episode of American Horror Story, I can say that this was some of Finn’s most perfect work. Jeff’s tragic story was about the internal conflict of living in between two worlds. One world being an officer in the Navy who loved serving his country. While the other world was of course wanting to stay true to himself as a gay man. My heart honestly broke watching this episode.
The idea that people of good character and morals serving in our military have had to go through such physical and mental pain is just disgusting and I don’t think I will ever understand it. I think that this episode is probably going to be one of the more important episodes in the series in the terms of hitting Ryan Murphy’s theme of homophobia. Yes, this episode is based off a story from nineties, but this story is incredibly important even in today’s world. Just months ago, President Trump was trying to ban transgender men and women from entering the military. No human should ever have to endure such torture due to their sexual preference and orientation. That’s just it. What else is there to say, but that this prejudice has to stop.
Please take a moment to watch this real interview that Jeff Trail took part in as a way to bring awareness and stand up during this time in our history.
Gianni Versace’s Coming Out Story
Gianni’s part in this episode was short but important. In 1995, Gianni had decided to do an interview with Advocate, a LGBT-interest magazine. In this interview, Gianni decided he wanted to publicly come out as a gay with his partner, Antonio D’Amico. We see Donatella basically pleading with her brother not to go through with this. Whether she was trying to protect the company’s image, her brother’s image, or her own… I am not sure. I would say likely a combination of the three. Either way, Gianni went through with it and gave one of the most iconic interviews in LGBT history. This interview not only brought a positive light to the LGBT cause, but even inspired Ryan Murphy when he was younger making this one of the more special scenes for him to re-imagine.
In Summation
Oh, we are in Milan! I need a vacation from the U.S to be quite honest. Yassss Donatella, you look so good! Oh, but the low key homophobia doesn’t. I would give my left leg, just to walk around the Versace atelier… Well I guess wheel around the atelier. Okay but Andrew was like the most annoying friend ever. If anyone texted me and said, “See you at the airport“, I would kindly reply back with “This isn’t RuPaul’s Best Friend’s Race!“. Oh wow, I had no idea the military could be so homophobic. eyerolls. If I caught someone going through my stuff like Andrew was, I would literally go Tiffany Pollard on them. I think I am turned off from Fruit Loops for life now. Damn it if you touch that dog I will lose my mind.
Well that is it for this week. It appears we are taking a short break as there is no episode next week. But let’s be real, we all need a little break. This show is emotional! Until then, enjoy this preview of the next episode! See you next time.
