American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez Episode 9 - Changes made to the real story, explored

Aaron Hernandez
Aaron Hernandez's real story (Image via FX)

American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez Episode 9, "What's Left Behind" aired on 5 November on FX. The penultimate episode of American Sports Story on FX tweaks key points in the real-life story of Aaron Hernandez. Hernandez's life and football career ended on a sad and heartbreaking note from day one: Sentenced to life in prison, locked in his cell awaiting execution, on a murder charge related to the killing of Odin Lloyd.

In American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez episode 9, Shayanna Jenkins, Hernandez's ex-fiancée, is called out for speaking out in Hernandez's defense after his arrest and murder conviction. What was in a box that Hernandez asked Shayanna to get rid of remains a mystery, both on the show and in life. The episode also sees Hernandez's agent, Brian Murphy, trying to come to terms with the fact that Hernandez has been linked to a double murder in Boston in 2012.

***Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for episode 9 of American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez.***


Changes made in episode 9 of American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez compared to the real story

The first season of FX's American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez is based on the podcast Gladiator: Aaron Hernandez and Football Inc. from The Boston Globe and Wondery. The series is about the rise and fall of NFL superstar Aaron Hernandez, an examination of his identity, family, career, suicide, and what it means for sports and America in general.

Former New England Patriots tight end Hernandez was convicted in 2015 of murdering Odin L. Lloyd, a semi-professional football player and boyfriend of Jenkins' sister, to whom Hernandez was engaged. Jenkins in the show accuses her nanny of leaking photos of her newborn Avielle's nursery to the media. Of course, that never happened because her babysitter, Jennifer Fortier, did not leak any pictures.

Instead, she surprised everyone by revealing that Hernandez had made a s*xual advance towards her the day before the murder. While she was inaccurately portrayed as speaking to the press shortly after Hernandez's arrest, she began speaking to reporters when Hernandez was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.


The testimonies shown in American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez aren't all true

American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez shows Carlos Ortiz testifying against Hernandez, but that never happened. Prosecutors thought Ortiz was too unreliable to take the stand when Ortiz first pleaded not guilty. Ortiz eventually changed his plea to guilty and cut a deal in 2016, after Hernandez had already been convicted.

In the Aaron Hernandez murder trial, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft was one of the prosecution's key witnesses. His testimony was that Hernandez lied when he said he was nowhere to be found the night Odin Lloyd was killed. Kraft and another Patriots employee said Hernandez told them he was at a club when the murder happened.

During the trial, however, prosecutors showed that Hernandez was not at a club that night. In addition, Lloyd was killed around 3:30 a.m., and no nightclubs in Providence, where Hernandez said he was, are open that late. This segment was left out of the American Sports Story about Aaron Hernandez.


American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez has changed several key factors that occurred in real life. To find out more about the show's changes, fans can check out the series, which is now streaming all its episodes on FX.

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Edited by Bharath S