Source: Cooper Neill / Getty
Magic Johnson wants to be very clear.
Recently a twitter account posted a picture of the NBA legend sitting in a chair appearing to be getting blood work done. Of course, people were confused as to how Magic Johnson, who publicly shared his HIV diagnoses back in ’91, was “donating blood.”
The misleading tweet, which has since then been removed, stated that Magic was “donating blood to the Red Cross to help underprivileged communities help fight COVID-19.”
Following the misleading post, which garnered more than 10,000 likes and more than 25,000 shares, Twitter users started to voice their opinions. Some users shut down the rumors and claimed that the caption that follows the image was not factually correct. Many others retweeted the tweet, voicing their concerns and questioning how it was possible.
On August 23, the 63-year-old set the record straight and tweeted that he in fact never donated blood and is aware of the story circling around the internet.
Following his tweet regarding the misleading twitter post, people started leaving encouraging comments in response to his tweet, uplifting the legend. One user showed compassion toward Johnson for having to entertain the negative comments.
According to the Associate Press, the false image that was shared on Twitter is a screen capture from an AIDS documentary that was released in 2012 and depicts a doctor drawing blood from a Magic. On November 7, 1991, Magic Johnson revealed his HIV diagnosis and announced his departure from the Lakers. Before making his ultimate retirement in 1996, he played in the league two more times.
Since then, the former professional basketball player has continued to earn major coin with his widespread business ventures including gyms, movie theaters and more. He also has launched the Magic Johnson Foundation to raise awareness about the virus, spoke about the stigma around HIV, and even pushed for Congress to help fight the disease.
This isn’t the first time this image has surfaced, as it went viral a year ago.
