It is the nature of sport to be filled with dramatic moments. But few events in sporting history can match the significance of the announcement made just over 20 years ago, when basketball superstar Earvin “Magic” Johnson told a stunned nation that he had contracted the HIV virus.
That confession is the subject of a documentary that premiered on cable sports channel ESPN this week, and will be repeated in the near future. Called simply The Announcement, the film is narrated by Johnson himself and includes the first—ever detailed interview with Johnson and his wife Cookie on the bombshell statement.
Until that shocking three—minute announcement in November 1991, the crisis of AIDS had widely been perceived as a scourge of the gay male community and a payback for their notoriously promiscuous lifestyle. From that moment on it was clear that it could happen to anyone, gay or straight, black or white, man or woman. Johnson later conceded that he had had multiple female sex partners during his charmed basketball career.
Johnson, who was then 32, was a living legend, a player whose dizzying on—court exploits had been key in transforming the Los Angeles Lakers into the glamour team of world basketball. Off the court, too, he was huge, sporting a megawatt smile and a charisma that extended his popularity far beyond the usual demographic of male sports fans.
His clean—living lifestyle — he didn’t drink or smoke — made his announcement all the more shocking.
“Because of the virus I have attained, I will have to retire from the Lakers,” Johnson told the room of stunned reporters.
Johnson vowed to “battle this deadly disease,” and to become a national spokesman on HIV and AIDS.
“We sometimes think only gay people can get it, that it’s not going to happen to me,” he said. “And here I am saying that it can happen to anybody, even me, Magic Johnson.” “But I am going to beat this,” he said with his million—dollar smile, “and I’ll see you all again soon.” That confident prognosis was almost as shocking as the HIV diagnosis itself, the film reminds viewers. At the time, HIV and AIDS were regarded as a virtual death sentence. Early and regular testing was in its infancy, and there were no drugs to treat the disease in its advanced stages.
Johnson’s continuing good health since his announcement has provided an entire generation of American youth with living proof of the benefit of early testing and treatment.
“I can still remember the blood rushing from my face while watching the announcement on CNN in my college apartment,” Boston Globe sports writer Chad Finn recalled.
“Even though he’s walking there and standing in front of everyone giving this press conference,” says former NBA star Karl Malone in the film, “they think they’re seeing this dead man walking.” Johnson, now 52, and a successful entrepreneur, activist and media figure, has obviously upended those expectations, though he reminds viewers in the film that he still carries the virus.
But in the years following his announcement he did more than anyone to change the deadly perceptions about HIV as his popularity helped overcome stigmas and give hope to other sufferers.
Within months after the announcement, he came out of retirement to earn an MVP award at the All—Star game, even though many fellow professionals objected to his participation on the mistaken premise that he could infect them if he suffered an open wound during play. A year later, he was part of the historic Dream Team, the cadre of NBA stars who won the gold medal at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992.
Yet what the film makes clear is that for all his amazing feats on the court, it was his dignified and courageous confrontation with HIV and AIDS that could prove to be his most lasting legacy.
“There’s winning and losing, and in life you have to know they both will happen,” Johnson says. “What’s never been acceptable to me is quitting.”
