Ad Targets

The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, the Black AIDS Institute, and the National Black Justice Coalition took out a full-page ad in variety on Monday to demand that ABC and The View correct misinformation the popular morning program spread about African-American men and HIV infection on June 22.

According to part of the ad, “On June 22, ABC’s The View aired inaccurate information about HIV, blaming African American gay and bisexual men for increased HIV rates among straight African American women. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has publicly disproven this myth. And since June 22, thousands of people have written to ABC, asking that The View provide correct information to viewers. Unfortunately, those requests have been greeted with silence from both ABC and The View.”

The June 22 episode focused on the Food and Drug Administration’s ban against gay and bisexual men giving blood. Host Sherri Shepherd and guest host D.L. Hughley perpetuated the falsehoods about African-American men and AIDS in their comments.

GLAAD issued a call to action on June 24 urging viewers to contact the show and ask for a retraction. More than 3,000 people participated, according to GLAAD.

Watch the controversial
segment, see transcript excepts, and read more about the call to action
here.