WARNING: SPOILERS ahead for American Sports Story episode 8.

American Sports Story episode 8 “Odin” changes several key aspects of Aaron Hernandez’s true story. Josh Rivera leads the American Sports Story cast as Aaron Hernandez, the former collegiate and NFL superstar tight end who was convicted of murdering semi-pro football player Odin Lloyd in 2015. The first two episodes of American Sports Story capture a basic understanding of Aaron Hernandez’s complicated upbringing and accelerated path to becoming a Florida Gator before joining the NFL’s New England Patriots in 2010. American Sports Story portrays several NFL players, including Hernandez, Rob Gronkowski, Tom Brady, and Tim Tebow.

American Sports Story episode 3 chronicles Hernandez’s celebrity status at the University of Florida before he ultimately declared for the 2010 NFL Draft. American Sports Story episode 4 chronicles more of the details of Hernandez’s transition from being the 2010 John Mackey Award winner to having his draft stock plummet ahead of the NFL Draft due to off-the-field concerns. American Sports Story episode 5 chronicles Hernandez’s early days as a rookie on the New England Patriots and explores the influences of his first NFL head coach Bill Belichick while American Sports Story episode 6 depicts a violent shooting Hernandez was allegedly involved in with his friend Sherrod, who comes after him for revenge in American Sports Story episode 7.

Aaron Hernandez Did Not Kill Odin Lloyd Because He Exposed His Second Apartment

Prosecutors did believe that the apartment played a part in Lloyd losing Aaron’s trust

American Sports Story creates a clear motive for Aaron Hernadnez’s murder of Odin Lloyd that was not ascertained in real life. Prosecutors believed that Hernandez found a reason to lose his trust in Lloyd that involved the apartment and an incident at a Boston nightclub, which prompted the killing. According to CNN, “One of the incidents involved Lloyd seeing guns and ammunition stored at Hernandez’ so-called flop house, his apartment in Franklin, Massachusetts. The other thing that set off Hernandez was a conversation Lloyd had with two men at a club earlier that night, June 14, 2013.” However, the apartment issue did not involve Lloyd telling Shayanna’s sister about Hernandez’s secret apartment.

Related

What Happened To Alexander Bradley After Being Shot

Alexander “Sherrod” Bradley gets shot by Aaron Hernandez in American Sports Story despite Hernandez never being charged with the crime in real life.

Lloyd did allegedly know about Hernandez’s second apartment in Franklin, Massachusetts due to a claim made by Hernandez’s babysitter. According to CBS News, Hernandez tried to bring his nanny Jennifer Fortier and her friend to his secret apartment while Lloyd was in the car. Fortier claimed that Hernandez invited her to his bedroom in his so-called flop house and kissed her before she refused him and pushed him away. Based on Fortier’s allegation, this confirms that Lloyd was aware of Hernandez’s flop house and was likely exposed to the weapons and ammunition he stored there. Despite this, a clear motive for Lloyd’s murder was never determined and Aaron never spoke about it.

Hernandez Met Odin Lloyd Years Before Murdering Him

The series makes it seems like they had just met weeks before the murder

American Sports Story makes it seem like Hernandez and Lloyd had just met merely weeks before the murder. The series portrays Hernandez and Lloyd only hanging out on a few occasions before Hernandez took his potential in-law’s life. In reality, Hernandez and Lloyd had met at some point in the two years before the 2013 murder at a family get-together with Shayanna’s sister, Shaena Jenkins. Hernandez and Lloyd spent a great deal of time together playing video games and smoking cannabis at Hernandez’s $1.3 million North Attleborough mansion, which was just one mile away from where Lloyd’s body was found.

Related

American Sports Story Aaron Hernandez Soundtrack Guide: Every Song And When They Play

FX’s new series American Sports Story features a robust and relevant soundtrack full of 2000s hip-hop classics and collegiate fight songs.

According to ESPN, Hernandez had hooked Lloyd up with several perks, including tickets to multiple New England Patriots games. Hernandez had also promised Lloyd that he would take him on a trip to California one day. Hernandez also rented Lloyd a black Chevy Suburban SUV days before his death, much like the one that Hernandez drives in American Sports Story episode 8. All signs and signals pointed to Hernandez and Lloyd being good friends for months and even years before Hernandez took his life. American Sports Story skips over these facts and ultimately presents Hernandez’s murder as a spontaneous act of paranoia and instability.

Hernandez Killed Lloyd Execution Style With 5 Bullets

The series portrays the murder scene with two gunshots

American Sports Story portrays Hernandez’s shooting of Lloyd differently than what the real-life evidence suggests happened. In the series, Hernandez stands face to face with Lloyd as the latter pleads for his life. Hernandez had already fired five shots into the air while he was riding shotgun in the Nissan Altima that Ernest Wallace was driving with Carlos Ortiz and Lloyd in the backseat, which likely did not actually happen. Hernandez screams at Lloyd after discovering that Lloyd ratted him out about his flop house, which also likely didn’t happen. Finally, Hernandez cuts off Lloyd’s sentence by firing two shots, ending his life.

Related

What Happened To Aaron Hernandez’s Fiancée Shayanna Jenkins

Aaron Hernandez’s relationship with his fiancée Shayanna Jenkins, portrayed by Jaylen Barron, is chronicled in the FX series American Sports Story.

In reality, Lloyd’s body was found with a total of five bullet holes in what authorities determined to be an execution-style killing. It’s unclear why exactly the creators of American Sports Story decided to alter these details pertaining to the methodology of Odin Lloyd’s murder, particularly since the series had already presented Hernandez’s alleged murders of Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado and the alleged attempted murder of Alexander “Sherrod” Bradley as fact in previous episodes. The series also leaves out the apparent altercation that Hernandez had with Lloyd at Rumor nightclub in Boston that occurred two days before the murder.

Tanya Singleton Received Her Cancer Diagnosed In 2011, Not 2013

Singleton passed away in 2015

Hernandez’s cousin Tanya Singleton reveals that she has been diagnosed with cancer in American Sports Story episode 8. Since the episode takes place in June 2013, this would not have been breaking news to Hernandez, who likely found out about Singleton’s cancer diagnosis when it was initially made in 2011. Previous episodes of American Sports Story reveal that Singleton had knowingly hidden the Toyota 4Runner SUV that was potted at the scene of the double homicide of Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado, which is true to reality. Singleton pleaded guilty to criminal contempt for refusing to testify against Hernandez but avoided jail time due to her diagnosis. She died in 2015.

There’s No Evidence That Hernandez Ever Attended A Boston Bandits Game

Hernandez attending a game would have been newsworthy

Multiple scenes in which Hernandez cheered on Odin Lloyd from the sideline at a Boston Bandits semi-professional football game were likely created for the series. This would mean that the scene in which Odin was inspired on the field by Aaron’s attendance and caught an interception was fabricated as well. According to ESPN, Lloyd usually wore number 4, not 58, during these games and would have somebody else’s name on the back of it because he couldn’t afford his own jersey. One thing that American Sports Story did get correct about Lloyd’s character was that although he might have been star-struck by Hernandez, he was perfectly content with himself and his life before it was taken away.

Sources: CNN, CBS News, ESPN

American Sports Story is a TV show from Stu Zicherman and executive produced by Ryan Murphy. The series stars Josh Andrés Rivera as Aaron Hernandez and Patrick Schwarzenegger as Tim Tebow. The sports anthology series serves as the fourth installment in Murphy’s “American Story” franchise.

Cast

Josh Andrés Rivera , Patrick Schwarzenegger

Seasons

1

Directors

Paris Barclay , Carl Franklin