The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation calls the statement by ABC 'evasive' and accuses the network of refusing to apologize for the show's controversial episode.
- Jul 16, 2010
AceShowbiz - The June 22 episode of "The View" is still an issue for GLAAD. The gay supporter group responded to ABC's statement to CNN which clarified the discussion of HIV and AIDS whereby gay African American male are said held responsible for the transmission of the deadly disease.
Comedian D.L. Hughley co-hosted the show in the particular episode, bringing up the issue of "down low" men aka closeted men who have sex with another male and do not tell their girlfriends. "It's primarily young women who are getting it from men who are on the down low," Hughley said speaking about the prevalence of HIV in the African-American community.
Soon after it aired, GLAAD, the Black AIDS Institute and the National Black Justice Coalition sent their protest by publishing an ad in Variety, asking ABC to make an off-air correction. They claimed, Hughley and host Sherri Shepherd were "blaming African American gay and bisexual men for increased HIV rates among straight African American women."
ABC did not answer the demand and released the following statement instead, "During a discussion about blood donation and the transmission of HIV/AIDS, a guest moderator on the show expressed his interpretation of data about one way the virus can be transmitted. The topic of HIV/AIDS has been raised many times over the show's 13 years, with many voices and opinions contributing to a conversation that we expect to continue as long as 'The View' is on the air."
GLAAD thinks it's an "evasive" statement. "...unfortunately, the network still has not corrected the inaccurate information broadcast into millions of homes," Cindi Craeger, GLAAD's director of national news wrote on the organization's official site. Craeger won't give up at this point saying, "GLAAD continues to call on ABC and 'The View' to publicly correct the misinformation aired on the June 22 show."
The talked about episode:
