Michael Sam. Remember him? He was the first openly gay NFL player… that wasn’t. Ever wonder what happened him? Us, too. So we did a little web research to find out…
First, a quick recap: In 2014, after coming out as gay in an ESPN interview, Sam was drafted by the St. Louis Rams, signing a four-year, $2.65 million contract with the team. That same year he was also named one of GQ’s Men of the Year, was a finalist for Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year, and received Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the ESPYs.
Related: Gay NFL Hopeful Michael Sam Allegedly Caught Sending Nudes Through Grindr
The fame was short-lived, however, because just a few months after being drafted by the Rams, Sam was let go. He was quickly scooped up by the Dallas Cowboys, only to be let go again a few months later.
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After a brief stint on Dancing With The Stars in 2015, Sam joined the Canadian Football League’s Montreal Alouettes, only to abruptly leave for “personal reasons” less then three weeks into the practice season. Then, in August 2015, he announced he was stepping away from the game for good.
Related: Is Michael Sam’s Football Career Already Over At Age 25?
Later that year, Sam told Colin Cowherd in a radio interview that he wished he had never been drafted by the Rams in the first place.
“If I had it my way, I really do wish I went undrafted,” he said, adding that, while he learned a lot playing in the NFL, he believes “I could have done better and be on an active roster right now if I went to a different team.”
After that, he sorta disappeared from the face of the earth, save for a dramatic verbal altercation he got into with another guy outside a West Hollywood gay bar that was caught on tape by TMZ in 2016.
Related: Michael Sam’s West Hollywood Throwdown: “You Give Our Community A Bad Name!”
Today, Sam’s official Facebook page, Michael Sam NLF, is still active, although there haven’t been any new posts since July 2017 when he shared this picture of himself lounging on a beach in Ibiza.
Meanwhile, over on Twitter, his official @MichaelSamNFL account has been deactivated and re-launched under a different handle, @MichaelSam52, which has racked up an impressive 179K followers.
And his Instagram page @MikeySam52, which he updates sporadically, has nearly 115K followers.
So what’s the once promising athlete up to these days anyway? That $2.65 million he made from the NFL must be getting low.
Well, for the past several years, 29-year-old Sam has been making his living as a motivational speaker, purportedly raking in as much as $50,000, $100,000, even $200,000 per speaking engagement.
Nice work if you can get it!
He’s represented by Keppler Speakers, a large booking agency for professional speakers. Some of the agency’s other LGBTQ clients include Laverne Cox and Nyle DiMarco.
Sam’s speaker’s page bio reads:
Revered for his unwavering courage, graciousness and fortitude, Michael inspires with his personal journey of triumph over intense adversity. Authentic and heartfelt on the stage, his candor empowers audiences to overcome their own impediments to self-truth, love and acceptance.
And what about Vito Cammisano, the guy Sam kissed on live TV upon learning he had been drafted by the Rams?
Well, Sam and Cammisano split up in June 2015, just six months after announcing they were engaged. These days, Vito appears to be living his best life in Dallas, where he spends his time posting speedo and underwear selfies to Instagram.
And thus concludes this edition of Where Are They Now?
Black Pegasus
I think it’s a shame what happened to Michael Sam. Had he remained closeted I’m sure he would be playin the NFL today. And that kissing and cake eating spectacle with his (then) boyfriend on live television didn’t necessarily help things. But the fact remains, the bigots of the world just aren’t ready for Gay Men in the NFL nor the NBA. Gay athletes need to keep pushing forward despite the homophobes.
iamru2
Or maybe he just wasn’t good enough which sounds more plausible with the information given in this article.
Mack
I think what needs to happen is a gay player in the NFL or the NBA keeps it quiet until they get noticed with an award like MVP, best Quarterback or some major recognition, THEN come out.
I was hoping that Michael Sam would make it though.
dinard38
I’m with you. That ‘smash cake in your face and kissing’ was too much, way too soon. I think it was that incident that hindered his career. He might……MIGHT…… have had a chance if he had not done that. The NFL was just not ready for that level of PDA!!!!
Bob LaBlah
This entire article appears directed more at humiliating Sam than supporting him. That picture of him kissing his lover was the ONLY picture you could find of them showing affection toward one another? Look at that gook covering his lovers face. And that youtube vid posted make me sick by the thirty second mark and I stopped watching. He appears disturbed in every pic and that lover’s pics leave me with the impression he was nothing but a leach who split as soon as he figured out they were not moving to Beverly Hills.
Michael Sam had a troubled upbringing and had a lot thrust upon him all at once. I mean a totally new world it was he stepped in not knowing which avenue to take and no one to guide him on but an opportunistic poor white trash of a boyfriend. But hey, why should an ol’ racist like me, Bob LaBlah, complain about it, huh?
draven
Thank you!
dre23222
I agree with Bob on this. Not sure what this article purpose was, but it’s definitely not showing much interest in Sam. Also why even mention that opportunistic trashy mess ex boyfriend. You could’ve left him totally out.
Chrisk
We don’t know about the BF to draw that conclusion. Queerty will always look for the trashiest thing to post.
noel25
I’d have to agree with Bob on this one. It was really hard to discern any other point of this article other than that he’s a failure, which is sad given especially considering his positionality at the time in the NFL and the many challenges he probably faced being a minority (both with respect to racial identity and sexual identity) in the southern US. I was hopeful that maybe there would be something positive mention in this article, but it really just struck me as being petty without clear reason toward a person who tried, in his own way, to add gay representation as an active professional sports player, which is not oft found.
And I almost never comment on any type of news article, but I was compelled to at least share for this one because in many ways this is a community which is very dear to me. To see us treat each other this way, especially toward a gay man of color who–like some of us albeit in different ways–did not have the easiest upbringing, is just sad. I think we can and should do better as a community.
Rock-N-RollHS
Something doesn’t add up. He’s a motivational speaker who commands high fees and yet he’s under the radar.
Don’t be frickin’ lazy Queerty. If he’s got a rep and gives talks–TALK TO HIM. Let him tell us what he’s up to. (There should have at least been “we reached out to Sam. . . “) I always loved Sam, both his charming unpretentious personality and his very very sexy self.
Instead we get more pics of that skunk ex.
niles
This article sickens me, as does the author. Why do gay men continually treat each other in these ways? Michael was caught up in a situation beyond his control. He did his best, but things don’t always work out. I do believe he returned to his alma mater Missouri State and continued his education. But, of course, you left that out in spite of your “research”. F**k you.
Kangol
I agree, Queerty was trying to drag him in this piece. He graduated from and was a football star at University of Missouri-Columbia–Mizzou–not Missouri State.
ggreen
Howard Bragman he ruined Chely Wright’s career too.
Kangol
No matter what anyone, including Queerty, has to say, Michael Sam will always be the first player to have come out during the NFL draft, and thus is a truly courageous, pathblazing individual. He had nothing handed to him on a plate and he’s still pushing forward. I’m glad he’s able to earn a living, and I hope he continues successfully on whatever path he chooses. His pro football experience showed that the NFL is full of crap; they talk a good game but are basically an authoritarian monopoly that doesn’t really give a damn about players, and most teams, whatever they say, are not ready for openly gay players or outspoken black players. It didn’t help that he was selected by a sucky team that conned the people of St. Louis in order to run off to LA, but it was karma and poetic justice that the Rams lost to the despised Patriots AND had the lowest rated Super Bowl in years.
Bob LaBlah
The straw that broke the camels back was the interview he did with Oprah that is available (due to certain readers never ending complaints about my posts I can no longer post youtube vids with my comments) on youtube. If you look and listen closely he is DANGEROUSLY close to naming other players who had called to congratulate him and welcome him to the club, more or less. I am sure every NFL owner who saw that video concluded this guy had to go, maverick gay player or not. They league was not ready for the truth to be known (that Sam is not the only gay player) and sent of message of shut up NOW because this is a MULTI-BILLION dollar business we are running here and we want concentration on our players playing football, not what sexual positions they prefer and with whom. Personally, though I felt sorry for the kid I sided with the owners. He (Sam) would not shower with teammates, stood off to himself on the field……to make a long story short Sam had too much personal baggage that they soon grew tired of. I am now worried about him since he has not posted on his Falsebook page since 2017. This business about him being a motivational speaker is a bit hard to swallow for reasons I won’t go into. I do wish him well and hope he gets counseling. The majority of us are lucky if we make $600-700k in our thirty or forty years of 9-5ing and he was let go making $2.5 million per year? Thats enough to depress anyone once they start looking back and realize the lights are turned off and the phone stops ringing and any day now the gas company will be out to turn off the gas.
Raymundo
As much as I respect him as a football player I am happy he got out of it for the good of his health.
MarathonBoy
Such a lazy piece of writing. Sam did not get $2.4 million. He was drafted by the Rams but he played only on the practice squad. He did not make the Rams roster. No roster, no contract money. That’s why the Rams were able to let him go and he was able to go over the Cowboys, where the same thing happened (practice squad followed by getting cut). In the practice squad, you make $7,600/week and he did this for a few months.
The other glaring problem with this “investigative” piece is the claim that he is a highly-paid motivational speaker. But there is no evidence of any such thing. There should be announcements from various business and civic groups that he is coming to speak. He would have a robust social media presence. There would be photos of his appearances and clips of his speeches on Youtube and Instagram, etc. Did Queerty look for any of that? Does it exist? In the absence of any of that, how can Queerty mindlessly report that he is getting $200K/speech?
Bottom line regarding Sam: He started out as an extremely likable fellow. He had enormous promise. He excelled at Mizzou. He was the victim of blatant discrimination during the NFL drafting process. But he soldiered on. He performed extremely well in an exhibition game during his practice squad period. He handled the press inquiries and public scrutiny well. But after that, he started screwing up, making one mistake after another. The worst came when he shamefully ran away from his commitment to Montreal and later went on Dancing With the Stars right before an important Combine (at which he performed poorly). Hopefully, he works out his issues and comes back as a coach or in some football-related capacity.
Cornellcw3
This hit piece on Michael Sam is the reason I stopped coming on Queerty and why many African American gay men do not feel apart of the gay community. We come out and get slammed by not only the black community which is extremely hurtful but also having to deal with racism within the gay community.
kamirX
MS is a tragic example of what happens when a black man attempts to adopt the white gay mantle (“I’m here, I’m queer, get used to it!”) without recognizing that he lacks the white privilege necessary to successfully execute. This is why Queen Latifah remains in the closet while Ellen can freely live her life.
IAMBROWN
Is he good player? All I’ve ever heard about M.S. is that he’s gay. Who ever advised him on coming out before making a name for himself did him a huge disservice. Unless he’s a horrid player and his claim to fame is being the “first”. Being a person of color (or non male identified) and gay means you have to work 6 times as hard to get an ounce of credibility. This guy needed to be an unstoppable god on the field, gain a significant following, become a legend…then possibly come out. There are reasons why people don’t come out until after retirement (I’m not saying it’s right). More thought should’ve gone into his PR if his was to have a longer career. Conservative America was not and is not ready for an out sports woman or man. Times are changing but Not that fast. So if he’s an extraordinarily player the tragedy is we never got to see his potential on the field.
enlightenone
Totally agree! A loss either way. I hope the truth is that he is making use of his degree, skills, and platform however small, and has sought individual therapy and perhaps made a few caring, trustworthy friends along the way. In time, I hope he will meet the love of his life and pursue whatever his dreams are today.