Anyone old enough to remember Magic getting HIV?

[Cyrusman122000]

Is anyone here old enough to remember Magic getting diagnosed with HIV?

What was the reaction?

Did people think it was a death sentence?

Was the nba world really sad?

[Drygon]

HIV was considered as a death sentence at the time...

People thought you could get infected by HIV if you were anywhere near a person who contracted the disese.

Imagine the reactions if LeBron, KD, Steph etc. would get.

[Pinkyring]

Just watch the 30 for 30 dude

[howlin mad axer]

I'm not, and I was binge watching ER during the pandemic, the first season was from like 1994 and they showed multiple HIV cases and they were treating it like a death sentence.

[J-Wolves]

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

[Tracymcgoaty]

https://www.nytimes.com/1992/11/01/sports/basketball-johnson-s-return-to-league-isn-t-welcomed-by-some.html

[J-Wolves]

https://www.nytimes.com/1992/11/01/sports/basketball-johnson-s-return-to-league-isn-t-welcomed-by-some.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1992/11/03/magic-johnson-re-retires/3956d27f-1641-4739-9cc8-be0fa5209d7c/

[J-Wolves]

$hit gets heated from 2.50 onward

Watch on YouTube

[SNPA]

Is anyone here old enough to remember Magic getting diagnosed with HIV?

What was the reaction?

Did people think it was a death sentence?

Was the nba world really sad?

Was anyone here alive back then and able to remember the early 90’s? lol

Yes.

I recall I was riding my dinosaur when I heard the news. Tragic. It was sad.

[Picasso]

Is anyone here old enough to remember Magic getting diagnosed with HIV?

What was the reaction?

Did people think it was a death sentence?

Was the nba world really sad?

Was anyone here alive back then and able to remember the early 90’s? lol

Yes.

I recall I was riding my dinosaur when I heard the news. Tragic. It was sad.

I know right. Haha.

But to answer the question. It was sad, very sad. Biggest news at the time for a while. Not only sports news, but all over the media. And yes at that time it was very much so considered a death sentence.

At the time Magic was my second favorite player behind MJ. And it was like getting the air taken out from you hearing the news. And it lasted. But seeing him on the court in the all star game and seeing him have fun and play was really enjoyable. The lead up was insane also. The news was all about players being on the court with him and their fears and if the NBA was making the right decision in letting him play.

Hope this helped answer your question.

[boomershadow]

I don't remember the exact announcement or anything, but I remember it being talked about.

[Roscoe Sheed]

Yes- I was a junior in high school.

The eerie thing is I remember saying to my friends a day or 2 before he made his announcement that perhaps he had AIDS because he sat the first 2 games. I was speaking off the top of my head but unfortunately I was right.

It was a very somber day- everybody thought he would die in a few years. I was a big fan of his back then so it was quite sad. Thankfully he is still healthy

[Blacksheep25]

Yes, I was in college. I recall watching with a few buddies. To be honest, the sense was he was in denial. About his future. About his sexuality also tbh. That was a big deal then also.

At that time it was very much viewed as a death sentence.

It was weighing on him, but he was optimistic. That felt almost crazy.

It felt like when someone gets stage 4 pancreatic cancer or something and talks of beating it. You admired the fight, but it was like, “ oh wow he’ll be gone in a couple years.”

There was a movie that came out like two years after called Philadelphia. Denzel and Hanks. It showed how brutal it was. The sickness and sores and stigma. You thought to yourself it’s hard to imagine Magic still looks fairly healthy. Like that wasn’t a movie where beating it was some option. It was still unthinkable two years after Magic had made the announcement.

I thought about that when Kobe passed. I just thought about how I was sure he was a dead man long before I ever heard the name Kobe.

[yellowknifer]

Definitely people were worried about whether he was going to make it or not. It was a big deal.

[D.Brasco]

That November, as a new season was set to open, Magic Johnson announced to the world that he was HIV positive, a stunning event that brought revelations about the climate of sexual frivolity around the Lakers. Johnson admitted he had been sleeping with 300-500 people a year.

https://www.sbnation.com/2010/2/23/1322694/no-johnson-puns-necessary-magic

[nfmos]

Magic was my favorite player as the time, MJ was the most exciting to watch and the best, but Magic was my favorite. I remember that i was in college and I walked into student area and everyone was sitting around and watching the press conference, im not sure if it was live or recorded but it was crazy. Everyone was just silent and listening, and I was just devastated. We all really just figured it meant he was going to die.

To go from that, to eventually him hitting those shots in the All Star game was going from my worst basketball related memory, to my best.

[Pythagoras]

Yes- I was a junior in high school.

The eerie thing is I remember saying to my friends a day or 2 before he made his announcement that perhaps he had AIDS because he sat the first 2 games. I was speaking off the top of my head but unfortunately I was right.

It was a very somber day- everybody thought he would die in a few years. I was a big fan of his back then so it was quite sad. Thankfully he is still healthy

Damn dude you were junior dude??? You’re old as dirt grandpa! (Was a sophomore in high school )

[Lalouie]

Is anyone here old enough to remember Magic getting diagnosed with HIV?

What was the reaction?

Did people think it was a death sentence?

Was the nba world really sad?

my reaction was "holy sh**, he's done".

and was isiah right because iirc the aftermath was i don't recall any female former partner ever coming out that she had hiv too. it was just magic if memory serves

[axeman23]

Yeah, at the time the line in most people's minds between HIV and AIDS were much more blurred, and it was widely viewed as somewhat of a death sentence, as others have mentioned. As far as other players went, Isaiah's attitude toward Magic/HIV get slammed now, but I don't think they were even remotely comparable to Tim Hardaway's stance on gay people...

[KGtabake]

At that point in time, HIV was considered a certain death.
16 days after Magic's announement, Freddie Mercury officially announced that he had HIV. He died one day later.

Magic was the GOAT.
He was the most successful player of a glorified era for the NBA(80s) and he had played a major role(along with Bird and Jordan) in making the league popular worldwide.
I was 13 years old. There was no internet then and TV here(Greece) had no coverage of the NBA, except the Finals(and that not in full). So, we only had sports newspapers. The power of printed press back then cannot be described easily.
We had him as a God on our minds. It was huge for the time. Even as a kid i can remember my father's reaction.

Magic was my favorite player even from the few games i had the luck to watch. He seemed so different than anyone else.
This disease has robbed us 4 seasons of him. Most likely he wouldn't win a ring again(since MJ had already started his takeover) but the Lakers could have made 1-2 more Finals.