Ricky Martin Defends The Assassination of Gianni Versace

TV show will be respectful, he told Versace's longtime partner
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Aug 10, 2017 12:54 PM CDT
Updated Aug 10, 2017 1:05 PM CDT
Ricky Martin Defends TV Show About Versace Murder
Ricky Martin, left, answers a reporter's question as fellow cast members Darren Criss, center, and Edgar Ramirez look on during a press tour on Wednesday in Los Angeles.   (Chris Pizzello)

Ricky Martin said he reassured Gianni Versace's longtime partner, Antonio D'Amico, that the pair will be treated respectfully in a TV drama about Versace's 1997 murder, the AP reports. "I'll make sure people fall in love with your relationship with Gianni," Martin, who plays D'Amico in FX's The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, recounted telling him. Martin said he spoke by phone Wednesday to D'Amico after he had publicly criticized the series for what he called inaccuracies. It's in production and set to air in January. Executive producer Ryan Murphy, taking part in a panel discussion Wednesday, said D'Amico may have been judging the project based on a paparazzi photo snapped during filming outside Versace's Miami Beach mansion. It's where the famed fashion designer was shot by serial killer Andrew Cunanan.

But Murphy said the series is a drama and not a documentary, adding, "You have to be respectful but make it your own." It's part of his American Crime Story anthology that began with the Emmy-winning The People v. OJ Simpson. The reference to "assassination" in the title is deliberate, Murphy said. The word has a political overtone that indicates killing to make a point, "and that's exactly what Andrew Cunanan did," he said of the man believed to have killed at least four others before Versace. Cunanan committed suicide about a week later as police tracked him. Cunanan was targeting gay men, and Versace was among the rare celebrities who dared to be open about their sexuality in a more repressive time, Murphy said. That motivation and law enforcement's failure to stop the murders, which Murphy blamed on homophobia, were chief reasons he decided to make the series. (More Gianni Versace stories.)

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