Vincent Hanley
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Vincent Hanley (2 April 1954 – 18 April 1987)<ref name="apprec">Template:Cite news</ref> was an Irish radio DJ and television presenter, nicknamed "Fab Vinny".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He worked mainly for Raidió Teilifís Éireann, and was the first Irish celebrity to die from an AIDS-related illness.<ref name="icons">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Back to the 1980s?">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He has been described as "Ireland's first gay celebrity".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Hanley began presenting pop music shows on RTÉ Radio Cork in 1976. He also did stints in Dublin on RTÉ Radio 1 and RTÉ television,<ref name="itbus">Template:Cite news</ref> including a special on Gilbert O'Sullivan.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> When the first dedicated pop station, RTÉ Radio Two (now branded 2FM), was started in 1979, he was one of its best-known DJs.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="itdeath">Template:Cite news</ref> While in Dublin he shared accommodation with Charles Self.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 1981, he moved to London to work for Capital Radio.<ref name="icons"/> In 1984, he declined a lucrative offer to remain there and moved to New York City.<ref name="icons"/>
Hanley founded Green Apple Productions in 1983 with Conor McAnally, an RTÉ television producer and son of actor Ray McAnally. The company produced MT-USA (Music Television USA), a three-hour-long music video show modelled on the new American cable channel, MTV.<ref name="itbus"/> MT-USA was broadcast on RTÉ from 1984 to 1987 on Sunday afternoons. Each block of videos was followed by a segment filmed in New York City with Hanley introducing the videos, discussing American music and culture, and interviewing a celebrity.<ref name="itbus"/> RTÉ described him as Europe's first VJ (video jockey).<ref name="icons"/>
In 1987, Hanley died shortly after his 33rd birthday.<ref name="apprec"/> He had been visibly ill for some time, and was rumoured to have an AIDS-related illness, which he denied.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> This reflected the stigma then associated with the disease and with homosexuality in Ireland, which was not decriminalised until 1993.<ref name="hughes">Template:Cite news</ref> The illness admitted by Hanley was congenital cerebral toxoplasmosis, described as an "eye disorder"; he was blind in one eye by his death.<ref name="itdeath"/> Toxoplasmosis is very rarely fatal in adults who do not have a weakened immune system. In 2000, Hanley's friend and colleague Bill Hughes, who had himself come out in the 1990s, agreed that Hanley had in fact died of an AIDS-related illness.<ref name="hughes"/> The same year, the Sunday Tribune newspaper placed Hanley at the top of a list of Irish gay icons.<ref name="icons"/>
In February 2022, RTÉ aired a new documentary about Hanley, titled Vincent Hanley: Sex, Lies and Videotapes.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>