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I paid my gay brother, Justin £75,000 to keep quiet – John Fashanu

Published

6 years ago

April 20, 2018

Football legend John Fashanu has made a revelation on his late brother who came out to be gay. According to the footballer, he paid his late brother Justin £75,000 not to reveal he was gay.

Justin, who played for Norwich and Nottingham Forest in the 1980s, came out before he took his own life in May 1998 at the age of 37.

As the 20th anniversary of his death approaches, John admitted he had acted like “a monster” to his older brother and now wants the Football Association to do more to support gay footballers and tackle racist and anti-gay abuse.

“It was a lack of education,” the former Wimbledon and Aston Villa striker told ITV’s Good Morning Britain show on Wednesday.

“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.”

Capped by England at Under-21 level, Justin was the first black footballer to command a £1 million transfer fee when he moved from Norwich to Forest in 1981.