Antonio D’Amico, the longtime partner of the late Italian designer Gianni Versace, is not happy with FX’s new series about Versace’s life and death, The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story — and he tells PEOPLE exclusively that the project contains multiple inaccuracies.
“Significant parts of the on Gianni Versace’s murder do not reflect the reality of the events that took place,” says D’Amico, 59. “I feel — together with those who know me well — that my character … is a misrepresentation of myself and what our relationship was like.”
In particular, D’Amico points to a scene early in American Crime Story‘s second season where Versace’s killer, Andrew Cunanan, is depicted meeting him onstage in San Francisco after an earlier encounter at a club. (It’s not quite clear whether the series is endorsing this version of events, which appears to be told from Cunanan’s perspective.)
D’Amico tells PEOPLE the sequence “is pure fantasy as I was with Gianni — together with a number of other people, like the ladies from the San Francisco Opera council — for the entire time he was at the theatre and then we went back to our hotel together.”
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“I remember it clearly because it was quite an event,” he continues. “That supposed meeting never took place. At least not on that day and in that setting. Just an aside, Gianni did not drink alcohol — everyone knew that — so even the champagne scene with Cunanan is fictitious.
D’Amico also says that the series gets wrong a few things about his 15-year-plus relationship with Versace.
“Neither Gianni nor I were looking to get married or to have children,” he says. “All we wanted was to live our relationship in the open — as we did. We were more than happy to have the nieces and nephews that we had and were not seeking children of our own.”
D’Amico isn’t the first to speak out about The Assassination of Gianni Versace. Versace’s family has also criticized the show as “reprehensible” and “bogus.”
In response, producer Ryan Murphy told Variety, “We issued a statement saying that this story is based on Maureen Orth’s book , which is a very celebrated, lauded work of non-fiction that was vetted now for close to 20 years. That’s really all I have to say about it, other than of course I feel if your family is ever portrayed in something, it’s natural to sort of have a ‘Well, let’s wait and see what happens’ .”
Speaking specifically about Versace’s sister, Donatella, played by Penélope Cruz in the series, Murphy said: “I don’t know if she is going to watch the show, but if she did I think that she would see that we treat her and her family with respect and kindness.”
Last year, D’Amico spoke to Ricky Martin, who plays him in the series. According to Martin, he reassured D’Amico that he would be satisfied with the portrayal.
A rep for FX did not immediately return a call for comment.