{"id":23646,"date":"2022-10-12T16:59:25","date_gmt":"2022-10-12T14:59:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1720663"},"modified":"2022-10-12T17:24:11","modified_gmt":"2022-10-12T15:24:11","slug":"dahmer-on-netflix-tony-hughess-story-should-be-a-call-to-action","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/dahmer-on-netflix-tony-hughess-story-should-be-a-call-to-action\/","title":{"rendered":"Dahmer on Netflix: Tony Hughes\u2019s story should be a call to action"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Oluwatayo Adewole\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 12 October 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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The story of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer was recently dredged up once again, this time by Ryan Murphy for Netflix<\/a>, with Evan Peters playing the eponymous figure in <\/span>DAHMER \u2013 Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story<\/span><\/a>. The show has achieved\u00a0<\/span>record-breaking ratings<\/span><\/a>, but it has also come under considerable criticism \u2013 including\u00a0<\/span>from the victims\u2019 families themselves<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

One particular victim who has captured a lot of attention due to an episode that was largely focused on him is 31-year-old Anthony Hughes (played by Rodney Burford). His family seemingly weren\u2019t consulted about the series, with his mother Shirley telling The Guardian<\/a> that what plays out in Dahmer \u201cdidn\u2019t happen like that\u201d, adding: \u201cI don\u2019t see how they can do that. I don\u2019t see how they can use our names and put stuff out like that out there.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s been extensive discourse about the moments surrounding his death, but much less interest in how he lived and the broader circumstances that made him particularly vulnerable.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hughes was born on August 26th, 1959. As an infant, he was given medication which caused him to lose his hearing, and he used sign language to communicate with those who understood, writing notes for those who didn\u2019t. Notably, Hughes used BASL (Black American Sign Language), a type of signing that was developed by d\/Deaf Black Americans to better express the specifics of their expressions and experiences, which shares some similarities with AAVE (African-American Vernacular English).<\/span><\/p>\n

Hughes had aspirations to be a model, but as a gay, Black and deaf man living at the turn of the \u201990s, things were far from easy for him and tragically, his life was cut brutally short.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Dahmer had befriended Hughes before inviting him to his apartment. It was there that he spent his final moments, like so many others before and after him.<\/span><\/p>\n