While even seasoned basketball reporters wept over the news, Earvin Johnson, known to everyone as Magic, was composed.
"Due to the HI virus I contracted, I will have to retire from the Lakers jersey," said the then 32-year-old basketball player in a determined voice on November 7, 1991.
He added that he did not get AIDS, but that he only had HIV. Just before the press conference, Dr. Michael Melman confirmed this to him.
The Lakers' club doctor broke the news to the basketball player before a trip back to Los Angeles.
"When he first told me I was like, 'Man, I'm going to die, it's over.' And he said, 'No, it's not like that,'" Johnson later told PBS. The doctor told him that he had to take medication and learn to live with the virus. That way he could live for a long time.
Johnson's case shocked the world
Back then, in the early nineties, the public believed that HIV infection was equivalent to a death sentence. That is why Johnson's press conference caused a shock.
Some even compared the shock to that after the announcement of the death of John F. Kennedy after the assassination in Dallas or the resignation of Richard Nixon after the Watergate scandal.
Magic Johnson was a sports superstar back then. He won the NBA championship ring with the Lakers five times, and was the MVP three times. The whole world knew him.
Until then, many viewed AIDS as a disease that only affected homosexuals or drug addicts. But Johnson was neither.
"I will now be a spokesperson for this topic because I want people to understand how important safe sex is," Johnson said.
"Sometimes we think that only homosexuals get the virus, that it can't happen to us. But I'm standing here to say that it can happen to anyone, even me, Magic Johnson. Everyone should be careful," he added.
Two months earlier, in September 1991, Johnson married his wife, Cookie. At the press conference, he said that his pregnant wife was not infected. He later announced that he had contracted the virus through unprotected sex with another woman.
"The Johnson Effect"
Back in 1991, he founded the "Magic Johnson" Foundation, which financially supported campaigns and organizations fighting AIDS.
Since then, Johnson has not stopped advocating for the sick and infected, talking about the plague. A quarter of a century ago, on World AIDS Day, he was one of the main speakers. He labeled the disease as "state enemy number one".
American scientists determined a few years ago that Johnson's announcement from 1991 led to a big jump in the number of men being tested for HIV. This was especially true for heterosexual black and Latino men, mostly in American cities that have NBA franchises.
Majik's career did not end then. The following year, in 1992, he was in the so-called Dream Team, the USA national team that took gold at the Olympic Games in Barcelona by defeating Croatia in the final.
He returned to the Lakers only in the 1995/96 season, and then retired. The Lakers retired his number 32 jersey. He entered the Hall of Fame in 2002. Later, he played a little more for a Swedish team that he bought.
Billionaire and philanthropist
Today, Majik is 65 years old. He invested the money he earned on the dance floor successfully – in real estate, cinemas, insurance, Starbucks. Forbes magazine estimates that it is worth about 1,2 billion dollars.
For a long time, his foundations have not only supported projects in the fight against AIDS, but also those dealing with education, health, and social needs of people.
Johnson is always there to personally support the cause, often with his wife Cookie and children.
When he got infected, there was only zidovudine (AZT) on the market as a drug. Today, there are many more drugs that help to reduce the amount of virus in the body to acceptable limits.
If it succeeds, the patient's immune system recovers and he can live normally. Today, HIV is considered a virus that can be treated well if detected in time - although it cannot be completely cured.
However, there is a large gap between the global North and South. It is estimated that around 40 million people are living with HIV today, more than half in sub-Saharan Africa. A quarter of infected people in the world do not receive any treatment.
In Magic Johnson, AIDS itself never broke out as a disease. "I'm not cured. I was just taking my medicine," he once said. "I'm doing what I need to do and thank God the HI-virus in my body is somehow dead. We don't want anything to wake him up."
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