Joseph Patrick McCormick
27th December 2014
Out professional American Football star Michael Sam will speak of how his brothers subjected him to homophobia daily when he was growing up.
The player – who has had brief spells with the St Louis Rams and the Dallas Cowboys – made history as the first openly gay NFL player, though he is yet to play an on-season game.
He was drafted to the Rams in May this year, before being cut in August – and subsequently spent less than two months on the Cowboys practice team before being cut again in October.
In an interview to be aired this weekend, Sam will tell Oprah that his bullies called him a “fag… because I was different.”
He said his brothers would “abuse me daily”, saying “They called me a lot of things. They called me a fag. They called me gay. They called me anything you could think of — just to hurt me.”
On one of the acts which hurt him the most, Sam says he received an MVP trophy, but that it was destroyed by one of his brothers in front of him.
He said: “I was so proud of those trophies … and my older brother, he was so jealous he just broke them in front of me. And it was the saddest thing.”
Sam had initially made plans for an Oprah documentary while playing for the Rams in May, but it was postponed to allow him to concentrate on his playing career.
However, the documentary and an exclusive interview can air this month now he is a free agent, and not signed to a particular team.
In the interview with Oprah Winfrey, he also revealed that a number of players who remain in the closet had been in touch with him.
Oprah Winfrey Network will air the exclusive documentary, ‘Michael Sam’ on Saturday, December 27.
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I have a brother who became my worst enemy, although he was my childhood hero for having literally saved my life when I was 5 years old.
By the time I was a 10 year old, my older brother had discovered my then secret truth and he went on to torment and abuse me for next 20 years as I struggled to keep my secret from the rest of my family and the world. The abuses I suffered at the hands of my own brother were terrible. I count them as amongst the worse things that have happened to me in my life. His torture and abuses of me were severe and both mental and physical. By the time I was just 12 years old, it had driven me to a suicide attempt.
Although I am glad to say, "I love my brother" and I've forgiven him for the many terrible things that he said and did to me, I can never forget them.
For the better part of the last 30 years we've had only a passing relationship even though we live in the same city. I last spoke to him a little over a month ago when a bereavement occurred in his family, but even then some fear and loathing entered my mind as I listened to his voice ask me for assistance in a time of need and I realized it was the same voice that had taunted and demonized me for so many long years.
I wish Michael Sam and his brothers well, hopefully they can overcome their past and achieve what I have not... I love my brother from afar. The things he did to me will not allow my heart to trust him even 40 years after it first began...
"Fear Eats the Soul"
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