Former NBA player Magic Johnson is looking to combat homophobia within the Hip Hop community. Saying he’s a fan of Hip Hop, Magic recently told The Huffington Post that he is trying to unite emcees to speak against homophobia and stereotypes about HIV and AIDS.
“What we’re trying to do is reach out to the Hip Hop community because they have power — power with their voice, power with that mic in their hand and power with the lyrics that they sing,” he said when asked about homophobia within the Black community.
He continued to explain that he wants to educate all minorities about HIV and AIDS as well.
“I have a lot of friends in [the Hip Hop] industry and so what we’re trying to do is rally them to get behind the cause, deliver the message to these young people that HIV and AIDS is big and it’s not going anywhere. They can make a difference right away by speaking out, because they have a big fan base.”
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Johnson also said he’s calling many of his friends out, saying that he’s talking to a few of them already, about how to become involved.
“We’re going to name everybody in a little while because it’s more than one person. We’ve got about five or six people that we’re talking to. We’re going to come out next year with everybody and we’ll have a nice big press conference and what we’re going to do, what our plan is, because it’s so important that we rally — not just them, either. I need the Hip Hop community but I also need the basketball players and football players. We need a little bit of everybody, so that’s what we’re working on now.”
For more from Magic’s interview, check the full Huffington Post piece here.
