Magic Johnson Denies Claims That He Donated Blood Despite Being HIV Positive: I Have Never Donated Blood

Magic Johnson Denies Claims That He Donated Blood Despite Being HIV Positive: I Have Never Donated Blood

Magic Johnson is setting the record straight!

On Thursday (Aug. 18), a parody twitter account said L.A. Lakers legend Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson, 63, donated some of his blood to the Red Cross to help underprivileged communities. The post immediately went viral and stirred up controversy being that Johnson is HIV positive.

On Tuesday (Aug. 23) Magic Johnson took to Twitter to address the post about him donating blood. He tweeted,

“I’m aware of the false story circling the internet, and to be clear, I have never donated blood.”

His message received mixed reviews. Some fans came to his defense and applauded him for clearing the air while others were confused as to why the Basketball legend would not want to donate blood. It appears some of his younger fans were unaware Johnson was HIV positive. See reactions below:

In 1991, Magic Johnson announced his retirement from basketball after he tested positive for HIV.  Johnson then created a foundation to help combat HIV. To this day, he continues to show his support for those suffering from the disease.

In a 2021 joint interview with his wife Cookie Johnson, Magic explained the ‘pressure’ he felt revealing his diagnosis to his wife. In his interview with Gayle King, Magic Johnson said,

“It was hard because I loved her so much and I hated to hurt her. I’ve played against some of the best basketball players in the world, right? I’ve been in championships. I’ve been in nine [NBA] Finals, so I know pressure. But there was no greater pressure than driving home to tell her.”

Magic Johnson, Cookie Johnson

Magic Johnson was informed that he had HIV in 1991, just one month after the couple had married and recently learned that Cookie was expecting. Explaining he was ‘scared to death’ to tell her, the former Laker adds,

“The key moment was when Cookie took the test and the results came back that she and the baby were fine. I wanted to make sure that she was going to be okay, the baby was going to be okay, and then I can move forward with making sure I was going to be okay.”

After learning that her husband contracted the disease, Cookie says she was more worried about him dying, which ‘trumped everything.’ Cookie decided to stand by her husband and be supportive however admits, she was against the press conference. She says,

“At that time, people weren’t educated so they thought you couldn’t touch people. You couldn’t hug people. And I didn’t want people to treat us like we were lepers.”

Magic and Cookie Johnson have been married for 30 years and together share three children, Andre, 40, EJ, 29, and Elise, who was adopted by the couple at 3-years-old.

Magic & Cookie with their family on the Steve Harvey Show

What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments below!

[VIA]