Well-known Hollywood actor with HIV - the reporting of it

Last week RadarOnline revealed that a megafamous Hollywood actor is HIV positive, and has been keeping it a secret for two years. Yesterday The Sun also carried this news on its front page. It was then picked up by the Daily Mail, etc.

It's been reported that this person slept with numerous A-list actresses, and presumably put their health in danger by exposing them to the virus without telling them.

A few HIV/AIDS related groups have lambasted the reporting of this story, and accused the newspapers of stigmatising HIV. But I think the story is being reported so widely precisely because the person in question kept his infection a secret from people who he had sex with. So, officially at least, it's not the fact he has HIV per se which is being stigmatised by the reporters.

I do however agree that the way people have been speculating about who it might be shows that HIV is still a taboo disease in many people's minds. We have moved on from the days of Rock Hudson and Freddie Mercury, but we still have some way to go.

As to who this actor is - so many people have been dying to know - but it's actually pretty certain that it is.... Men men men men, manly men men men. There's practically no doubt about it.

In many countries, if a person who knows he/she is HIV-positive has sex with another person without informing him/her of their HIV-positive status, this is considered aggravated assault or even, if there are further aggravating circumstances, attempted manslaughter.

So technically, this could be a story about a celebrity committing felonies. My money's on "cheap yellow journalism/sleaze", though.

What's wrong with stigmatizing it?

Stigmatizing will prevent people from being careless and acquiring it. It's by no means a fun thing to go through. I can only imagine how disastrous if could be for a person of ordinary means.

It's not to mean degrading the individual but Jesus, C'mon. .. you gonna say it's a GOOD thing to have?

Same goes for Annie Lennox. .. although she means well. ... That HIV POSITIVE (*as in "happy" was borderline crude, though well intentioned)


If Charlie has it then it oughta be quarantined who on earth would still mess with a man whore like that?

Oh right. ..It's Hollywood. ..nvm

Do you not know what the word "stigmatizing" means, matt? It means that Bob-from-Jill-down-the-street stops being Bob-from-Jill-down-the-street and starts being Bob-with-HIV. It means that people start considering the thing someone is stigmatized about as inseparable from that person. It means that their whole identity is reduced to "HIV".

[QUOTE] [b]thomasquinn 32989 wrote:[/b]

Do you not know what the word "stigmatizing" means, matt? It means that Bob-from-Jill-down-the-street stops being Bob-from-Jill-down-the-street and starts being Bob-with-HIV. It means that people start considering the thing someone is stigmatized about as inseparable from that person. It means that their whole identity is reduced to "HIV".[/QUOTE]

And that's it really. It's not the virus which is being stigmatised, but the person who has it, because he "caught" it.

Charlie isn't an "A-lister".

There's all the latest news articles about it being Charlie Sheen. He's going to be on the TODAY show to make an announcement.

It was obvious it was Charlie.

Confirmed a few hours ago.

The guy is such a train wreck. When you're talented, successful, and have so much money, but have very serious personal issues which you never really try to resolve for the long-term, you inevitably end up like him.

We all go on about how Freddie was reckless etc. - but he had the excuse of having lived at a time when there was much confusion about what was out there. Sheen knew all about what was out there, and could have easily had fun but still avoided the disease, but instead he ended up getting it, and then squandering millions (he admitted to spending this much this morning) to keep it a secret. The guy doesn't deserve all the money he has - he's an idiot. And I suspect the only reason he came clean now is that he knew spending any more money would be useless.

If only those millions went towards a better cause.

This is four year old news to Charlie Sheen.

The timing sure is convenient. Millions of Americans are finally asking themselves if the Bush administration's foreign policy helped create ISIS, so they need a junk celebrity story so that people will change the channel.

And sadly, it will work.

[QUOTE] [b]The Real Wizard wrote:[/b]

This is four year old news to Charlie Sheen.

The timing sure is convenient. Millions of Americans are finally asking themselves if the Bush administration's foreign policy helped create ISIS, so they need a junk celebrity story so that people will change the channel.

And sadly, it will work.
[/QUOTE]

That's kind of what I thought too.

I had heard a couple of weeks ago, from an industry insider I know online who works as a camerman, that Charlie just had to get a few affairs in order (which would be affected by his public revelation), and that he would shortly be going public about his HIV. So this was definitely already being planned before the Paris attack and the whole inflation of the ISIS issue.

But why did he time the revelation to precisely the time when the Paris attack happened and ISIS was all people were talking about? Could be a coincidence, I don't know...

Do not underestimate the power of mass media. Timing is absolutely everything in celebrity culture.

If there isn't some kind of agenda to keep people distracted from real news, that sure is the end result anyway !

[QUOTE] [b]Costa86 wrote:[/b]

But why did he time the revelation to precisely the time when the Paris attack happened and ISIS was all people were talking about? Could be a coincidence, I don't know...
[/QUOTE]

Because he was being blackmailed. He said that he has payed up to 10 million dollars for people to keep their mouths shut. And he stated that his finances are not that good anymore.

And someone was about to sell the story to tabloids, and some media was already questioning that the Hollywood actor with HIV was having unprotected sex with everybody and putting people at risk.

He did the right thing by coming public with it. The stress is over and now he even claimed that maybe he will stop drinking because of the new founded freedom.

To have people you trust blackmail you with something so evil must be so hard to take. I love Charlie Sheen and my heart skipped a beat when i heard that he was HIV positive. Charlie is a very charismatic actor and he will continue to work. It´s about time someone finds the cure for this desease.

[QUOTE] [b]Mr.QueenFan wrote:[/b]

[QUOTE] [b]Costa86 wrote:[/b]

But why did he time the revelation to precisely the time when the Paris attack happened and ISIS was all people were talking about? Could be a coincidence, I don't know...
[/QUOTE]

Because he was being blackmailed. He said that he has payed up to 10 million dollars for people to keep their mouths shut. And he stated that his finances are not that good anymore.

And someone was about to sell the story to tabloids, and some media was already questioning that the Hollywood actor with HIV was having unprotected sex with everybody and putting people at risk.

He did the right thing by coming public with it. The stress is over and now he even claimed that maybe he will stop drinking because of the new founded freedom.

To have people you trust blackmail you with something so evil must be so hard to take. I love Charlie Sheen and my heart skipped a beat when i heard that he was HIV positive. Charlie is a very charismatic actor and he will continue to work. It´s about time someone finds the cure for this desease.

[/QUOTE]

Mate, that's not what I was questioning. I realise the reasons why he went public. I was questioning why in this particular week - when the news was dominated by ISIS.

And, as a side note, Charlie only went public when he realised he'd spent millions to keep it secret to no avail, and he's now in a situation where he's short of cash.

Regarding a cure - they've been striving to find it for decades - it's proved to be very hard because of the nature of the retrovirus that is HIV. They've functionally cured it, with HAART. So please, people of the world, stop propagating the bullshit that scientists have done nothing to cure HIV. They've done their fucking best. HIV won't be cured in our lifetime - and not for lack of trying.