(above : gay friendly icon.  And on the left, a Marilyn Monroe impersonator)

Earlier today, Redskins WR Brandon Lloyd used a phoner with DC’s WJFK to question the credibility of Troy Aikman. Or to be specific, Aikman’s, er, bachelorhood.

While Lloyd happily regurgiatated an age-old rumor about Aikman — one partially fueled by Skip Bayless’ “Hell Bent : The Crazy Truth About The ‘Win Or Else’ Dallas Cowboys” and furthered by an awkward Sports Illustrated profile of the QB that had him trolling AOL chat rooms in search of a non-gold digging female companion (that’s how all male celebrities meet their wives, right?), there’s at least one interested party very keen to refute the legend.  From a 1998 ESPN.com interview with former ‘Skins RB Dave Kopay :

Q: What did you think about the Troy Aikman/Skip Bayless incident a couple of years ago? Do you think it is fair and/or necessary to out somebody in the league?

Dave Kopay: I don’t think it’s fair or necessary. It’s against what I think a person’s character should be in terms of being honest and having integrity. To begin with, people always ask about Aikman or Steve Young or Joe Montana — they always pick out the most dynamic, successful men. Is that fuel for their own fantasies? I don’t know. They never pick out the ugly ones.

I think Skip Bayless has a screw loose. I had an incident happen when I was getting on the airplane. The last person on the plane was Troy Aikman. I introduced myself to him and said I owed him an apology, because I said something I regret saying. Troy is a very handsome man and would be anyone’s fantasy, whether from the gay or straight world, and I had said something off the cuff in doing an article for GQ magazine, because everyone’s always asked me about the gay quarterbacks when I played. He asked me, “Would you be interested in having sex with Troy Aikman?” And I said the answer was yes. And he wrote that in the magazine.

Which wasn’t fair, because it might have put more pressure on Troy. Gay men and women don’t always know who is gay, but I’m often very accurate. To this day, I don’t believe Troy Aikman is gay.