Sean Sasser Of The Real World: San Francisco Has Died
A million centuries before The Real World turned into Jersey Shore’s drunken grandfather and became a platform for fame whores whose greatest goal in life is to host a Las Vegas club night (yes, I still watch that shit), there was The Real World: San Francisco and for me, it was some groundbreaking stuff. During the RW: SF, Pedro started dating fellow AIDS activist Sean Sasser, who was also living with HIV. Sean recently died at the age of 44.
Sean’s partner Michael Kaplan tells Queerty that he died of mesothelioma, which is a rare form of lung cancer. Michael didn’t give anymore details.
Shortly after The Real World ended, Pedro died. Sean continued to fight against AIDS and became a well known activist. Judd from the RW: SF said on Twitter last night, “Our friend Sean Sasser has died. Our love goes out to his family & husband Michael. We will miss u so much.”
Here’s the full RW episode featuring Pedro and Sean’s commitment ceremony. Their relationship was one of the best parts of the RW:SF and it had a big impression on my teenage brain.
Rest in peace, Sean.