On November 7, 1991, basketball legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson announced his sudden retirement from the Los Angeles Lakers after testing positive for HIV. Johnson was initially diagnosed with the virus before the 1991 announcement, but he was in Salt Lake City, Utah, and the doctor didn’t want to discuss it over the phone. In an exclusive interview on CBS Mornings, Johnson discussed living with HIV and his career three decades after the announcement.
Johnson retired abruptly in 1991 after announcing that he had contracted HIV, but returned to play in the 1992 All-Star Game, winning the All-Star MVP Award. After protests against his return from fellow players, he announced his HIV status. With the help of modern medicine, his wife’s support, and many doctors, Johnson used the 1992 Olympic Games to shatter stigma around HIV.
At a time when HIV was seen as a death sentence, Johnson shocked the NBA and those watching his news conference live on TV in 1991 by announcing he had tested positive for HIV and would be retiring from the team. Sponsors dropped him and players shunned him, but Magic Johnson used the 1992 Olympic Games to shatter stigma around HIV.
In November 2011, video excerpts of Magic Johnson’s interview with FRONTLINE were published on the 20th anniversary of his HIV diagnosis. The NBA is the largest sports organization in the United States, and Johnson’s announcement marked the end of Showtime.
📹 Magic Johnson HIV announcement Part 1
During a press conference in 1991 basketball legend Magic Johnson announces he has HIV and is leaving the NBA.
📹 Magic Johnson on his fight with HIV
Basketball Hall Famer Magic Johnson opens up about his fight with HIV and launches a new in-home HIV test.
What people don’t realize unless they read Magic Johnson’s autobiography is that Magic and Cookie always had an agreement that their relationship would always be an open, promiscuous relationship. I hate to say it, but Cookie knew Exactly what she was getting herself into and therefore has only herself to blame.
@6nic9 yeah. it’s called being flawed. No perfect people walkin this earth. He could have kept it hush hush and then it could have been an even bigger issue down the line. He was wrong for what happpened leading up to it, no doubt, but he’s human, he made those mistakes just like all of us will have our share. He didn’t shy from letting the world know what’s goin on and used himself as a spotlight of awareness. He may have even saved a few lives in the process.
@garytppit In America, when someone sees a black person they assume many things about them because there is such a disproportionate amount of us in bad situations. On some level you can’t blame people for having the stereotype stuck in their head– numbers don’t lie but it’s not some sort of genetic issue or something, it’s all the end result of a vicious cycle of failure that began with this country’s ugly past.