Edgar Ramirez, who plays the late
fashion designer Gianni Versace in FX's upcoming American Crime
Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace, says homophobia
killed Versace.
Versace was gunned down outside his
lavish Miami Beach home by Andrew Cunanan (played by Darren Criss), a
27-year-old man who idolized Versace and was on the FBI's Ten Most
Wanted list.
Authorities believe Cunanan killed five
men but, according to Ramirez, stopping him wasn't a priority for
authorities because of his gay connections.
“For a number of reasons, the
authorities at the time never considered Cunanan to be a public
threat because he was only killing homosexuals,” Ramirez told OUT.
“The word assassination has a political and a social overtone
because Versace was targeted. In a way, this was a tragedy that could
have been prevented. Basically, homophobia killed Gianni Versace.”
“This is a tragedy. It should have
never happened,” he
added.
Ricky Martin portrays Versace's
longtime partner, Antonio D'Amico.
American Crime Story: The
Assassination of Gianni Versace premieres Wednesday on FX.