Troy Aikman is holding firm to his grudge against writer-turned-talking-head Skip Bayless over decades-old speculation that Aikman might be gay.
Aikman voiced his displeasure recently to Sports Illustrated over Fox Sports hiring Bayless, officially making the two nemeses colleagues. Aikman has long been the lead Fox Sports NFL analyst at Fox.
Related: Former NFLer Dexter Manley On Troy Aikman: “He’s A Queer”
“To say I’m disappointed in the hiring of Skip Bayless would be an enormous understatement,” Aikman told the magazine. “Clearly, [Fox Sports president of national networks] Jamie Horowitz and I have a difference of opinion when it comes to building a successful organization. I believe success is achieved by acquiring and developing talented, respected and credible individuals, none of which applies to Skip Bayless.”
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In Bayless’ book, Hell-Bent, he documents rumors coming from Dallas Cowboys coach Barry Switzer, writing:
“I didn’t spend much time pondering the Aikman rumor until October of 1995, when several members of the Switzer camp told me about new ‘incidents.’ They said the team had been informed ‘by the police’ that Aikman ‘had been in some places he shouldn’t have been.'”
The Ringer reports that Bayless then spoke with Aikman’s agent, a Dallas police source, a team source, and Aikman’s sportscaster pal Dale Hansen. They all said there was no evidence Aikman was gay, and Bayless then wonders aloud why the rumor should matter. He also writes that there were rumors that Switzer himself might be gay, that he sometimes stayed in a hotel in Dallas’s “gay district.”
Related: Some Of The NFL’s Biggest Stars Are Gay: We’re Ready When You Are
“Maybe I imagined this, but I began to feel subtle pressure from the Switzer camp to ‘tell the truth’ about what a ‘fraud’ Troy is,” Bayless writes. “In December, Switzer supporters would wonder if ‘the truth’ about Troy had made him a ‘very troubled young man’ and helped cause his slump. My response: ‘What exactly am I supposed to tell the truth about?’ I had no proof of ‘the truth.'”
Aikman has called homosexuality a “lifestyle choice,” implied he might inflict physical violence on Bayless if he ever were to see him, while also suggesting Bayless himself might be gay.
Things might get awkward around the Fox Sports water cooler.
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robho3
I have no idea who this person is and if he’s on Fox News I really don’t care
machuffin
If Skip Bayless isn’t gay I don’t know who is.
Captain proton
Dallas has a gay district?
ppp111
I remember reading that book. It basically insinuated that Aikman was gay without actually providing any kind of proof. Aikman was at the height of his Cowboys career having won three SuperBowl titles. But it just wasn’t about Aikman; much of it was about Jerry Jones and the running of his organization. I would think Aikman would have let this go at this time but I guess old grudges die hard.
Jack Meoff
If Aikman is still harping on about it 20 years later it just shows that the suggestion hit a nerve. Either he is hiding latent tendencies or he is such a huge homophobe that the fact that it was even mentioned that he might be gay is a slight he feels he needs revenge for. The fact that he has threatened physical violence aver the issue speaks volumes.
Xzamilio
Troy Aikman is not gay. Troy Aikman does not need to be gay. We have enough crazy repressed homosexuals. Can he just be a moron who’s had too many concussions to count, which he probably no longer can do?
jag4313
I have heard these rumors since I was a kid and I remember thinking how hot he was back in the 90’s. He’s still pretty hot now. I’ve heard from friends in the Dallas area that they have seen him in gay populated areas of Dallas before. It never really shocked me, I just always assumed he was gay
TedV
I’m no Troy Aikman fan, but why is the onus on HIM to get over it? Why is there no expectation that Skip Bayless should apologize for presenting rumors as fact so he could sell more books?
Chris
I don’t think Aiken’s upset about an old book. I think he’s annoyed by having to work with such a godawful sports analyst that, when ESPN finally let Bayliss go, his colleagues held a celebratory party for him the day AFTER he had left town.