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Paret's families. Pete
Hamill, Jimmy Breslin,
historian Charles Kaiser
(The Gag Metropoli,s),
and countless boxing
insiders are featured.
And the film climaxes
with Griffith meeting
Paret's son in an emo-
tional reconciliation.
But for gay viewers,
the most fascinating
angle is the most elusive
one: Griffith's sexuality.
After being a six-time
world champion (and
briefly married to a
woman), Griffith fell on
hard times and worked
as a corrections officer.
He adopted and now
Iives with a prisoner he
met on the job, along
with another man.
Numerous people in
the frlm say everyone in
the boxing world knew
he was gay. But even
now, the closest Grif-
fith, a native of the U.S.
Virgin Islands, can come
to acknowledging the
obvious is to admit,
"Some people think I'm
gay, but I don't care. I
don't care what they
think."
Sadly, the man who
made his living with his
fists was brutally at-
tacked after coming out
of a gay bar in the early
1990s in what police
termed a hate crime. He
spent a month in the
hospital and still suffers
from short-term memo-
ry loss.
Filmmaker Klores
better understood the
culture that shaped the champ after
visiting the Virgin Islands and experi-
encing its bigotry toward even its
most famous son.
"Wherever you go there is stuff
named after him," says Klores. "Grif-
fith Park, Griffith Stadium, Griffith
G;.'rn. He's a hero. But when I started
speaking to people, I was stunned.
'Oh, yeah, the faggot?' That's what
they say. 'Oh, he was a fag."' I=
€
=The new documentary Bing of Fire tells the story of a boxer who beat a man t0
death over one word:"faggot" By Michael Giltz
n March of 1962 reigning boxing
champ Emile Griffrth was set for
a rematch with Benny "the Kid"
Paret. During the weigh-in, Paret
taunted Griffith with one word,
voicing what was an open secret in the
boxing world: " Maricon," said Parel,
in front of all the media.
The new documentary Ri,ng of Fi,re:
The Emile GrnfJi,th Story (airing on
USA Network April 20) details whathappened next: During the actual
match, millions watching TV at home
saw Griffith literally pummel Paret to
death. (He was taken to the hospital
and died 10 days later.)
Codirected by Dan Klores and Ron
Berger, the film shows the world Grif-
fith came from and details the reper-
cussions in the sport (which didn't re-
turn to television for about a decade)
and in the lives of Griffith's and
THE A0V0CATE | 60 | lpnrL 26,2005
Paret's families. Pete
Hamill, Jimmy Breslin,
historian Charles Kaiser
(The Gag Metropoli,s),
and countless boxing
insiders are featured.
And the film climaxes
with Griffith meeting
Paret's son in an emo-
tional reconciliation.
But for gay viewers,
the most fascinating
angle is the most elusive
one: Griffith's sexuality.
After being a six-time
world champion (and
briefly married to a
woman), Griffith fell on
hard times and worked
as a corrections officer.
He adopted and now
Iives with a prisoner he
met on the job, along
with another man.
Numerous people in
the frlm say everyone in
the boxing world knew
he was gay. But even
now, the closest Grif-
fith, a native of the U.S.
Virgin Islands, can come
to acknowledging the
obvious is to admit,
"Some people think I'm
gay, but I don't care. I
don't care what they
think."
Sadly, the man who
made his living with his
fists was brutally at-
tacked after coming out
of a gay bar in the early
1990s in what police
termed a hate crime. He
spent a month in the
hospital and still suffers
from short-term memo-
ry loss.
Filmmaker Klores
better understood the
culture that shaped the champ after
visiting the Virgin Islands and experi-
encing its bigotry toward even its
most famous son.
"Wherever you go there is stuff
named after him," says Klores. "Grif-
fith Park, Griffith Stadium, Griffith
G;.'rn. He's a hero. But when I started
speaking to people, I was stunned.
'Oh, yeah, the faggot?' That's what
they say. 'Oh, he was a fag."' I=
€
=The new documentary Bing of Fire tells the story of a boxer who beat a man t0
death over one word:"faggot" By Michael Giltz
n March of 1962 reigning boxing
champ Emile Griffrth was set for
a rematch with Benny "the Kid"
Paret. During the weigh-in, Paret
taunted Griffith with one word,
voicing what was an open secret in the
boxing world: " Maricon," said Parel,
in front of all the media.
The new documentary Ri,ng of Fi,re:
The Emile GrnfJi,th Story (airing on
USA Network April 20) details whathappened next: During the actual
match, millions watching TV at home
saw Griffith literally pummel Paret to
death. (He was taken to the hospital
and died 10 days later.)
Codirected by Dan Klores and Ron
Berger, the film shows the world Grif-
fith came from and details the reper-
cussions in the sport (which didn't re-
turn to television for about a decade)
and in the lives of Griffith's and
THE A0V0CATE | 60 | lpnrL 26,2005