ESPN Films: 'The Announcement'
"The Announcement," airs March 11 at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN.
Like everyone else, I was shocked and saddened on Nov. 7, 1991, when I got the news Earvin "Magic" Johnson was HIV-positive. At the time, I was a freelance writer for the Village Voice and quickly started working on a piece about the significance of Magic's announcement. I was also a Knicks' season-ticket holder and was at Madison Square Garden that night when coach Pat Riley led his New York squad and the visiting Orlando Magic in prayer. Riley's talk, and the shock of the day, was so powerful that years later I could not tell you the outcome of the game. (It turns out the Knicks blew out the Magic, but I had no memory of it.)
Based on what the public knew, Magic, like thousands of other unfortunate Americans, was gonna die. This would have been my most enduring memory of HIV if fate hadn't intervened. Two years after Magic's announcement, my sister Andrea made her own: she too was HIV-positive. Just as America expected to watch Magic die, so my family anticipated this daughter, sister, mother wasting away. Yet here we are, two decades later and Magic, my sister and so many others, are alive and thriving. So the journey of HIV, from death sentence and public menace, from subject of experimental drugs cocktails to manageable disease, was not just a medical story to me; it was a tangible story of overcoming. It also made the irony of Magic's becoming the public face of HIV even deeper.
When Magic first became infected, AIDS was viewed as "the gay disease," which was why his diagnosis was profoundly disturbing. Twenty-plus years later, AIDS is killing minority women and young gays in alarming numbers. Magic, a father, husband and national hero, has never looked like the typical "victim," which has made him easily acceptable to mainstream America but, to some degree, misrepresented what the virus looks like. I know my sister, who has worked as an HIV activist for more than 10 years, has both resented and admired Magic, sometimes unsure if he was the right image to represent her and yet very happy his voice was so loud on her behalf. All of which is why I was so happy to be asked to work on this film about Magic's announcement.
This is, in fact, my second film on HIV (I did the award-winning "Life Support" for HBO in 2007, starring Queen Latifah). For me, "The Announcement" is not just a look back at a fraught, unforgettable moment in U.S. history, but a vehicle for re-introducing the subject of HIV/AIDS to an audience that may not know that Americans are still getting infected and, yes, still dying from this big disease with a little name.
Magic works hard at business and health. He is not alone. Thousands of ordinary people, people like my sister, are working every day to maintain themselves. "The Announcement" is a testament to all of them.
FILM SCHEDULE
- •The Announcement
-- ESPN: 9 p.m. - •The Announcement
-- ESPN2: 11 p.m. - •The Announcement
-- ESPN2: 8 p.m. - •The Announcement
-- ESPN2: 8:30 a.m. - •The Announcement
-- ESPN2:1:30 a.m. - •The Announcement
-- ESPN: 4:30 p.m. - •The Announcement
-- ESPN2: 3 p.m. - •The Announcement
-- ESPN2:11:30 pm.
SUNDAY, MAR. 11
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