Madonna condemned the Trump administration this week for its decision not to commemorate World AIDS Day on December 1.
The pop star posted her criticism on Instagram on Monday, saying she would continue to honor the day and urged others to do the same.
She called the move “ridiculous,” “absurd,” and “unthinkable.”
Madonna condemned the Trump administration for its decision not to commemorate World AIDS Day
Highlights
- Madonna sharply criticized the Trump administration for not commemorating World AIDS Day, calling the decision ‘ridiculous’ and ‘unthinkable.’
- The U.S. State Department barred the use of federal funds to mark World AIDS Day, ending a decades-long tradition of official recognition.
- Madonna urged fans to honor World AIDS Day, emphasizing millions lost to AIDS and the ongoing need for awareness and research.
- Modeling suggests these funding cuts could cause 10 million more HIV infections and 3 million additional deaths over five years.
Image credits: Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images
Earlier this month, the U.S. State Department told employees and grantees not to use federal funds to commemorate World AIDS Day.
According to reporting, the directive is part of a broader policy instructing government officials to refrain from messaging related to any commemorative days.
The guidance ended a decades-long U.S. tradition of marking World AIDS Day, which has been recognized internationally since 1988 to raise awareness of HIV and remember those who died from AIDS.
Madonna wrote that people worldwide have observed the day for four decades because millions of lives have been affected by the disease.
“People have lost lovers and husbands and wives and girlfriends and boyfriends and mothers and daughters and children to this deadly disease, of which there is still no cure,” she wrote on Instagram.
“It’s one thing to order federal agents to refrain from commemorating this day, but to ask the general public to pretend it never happened is ridiculous, it's absurd, it's unthinkable.
“I bet he’s never watched his best friend die of AIDS, held their hand, and watched the blood drain from their face as they took their last breath at the age of 23,” Madonna said of President Donald Trump.
Madonna, a staunch advocate for HIV/AIDS awareness and research, has lost many close people to it, including her former roommate Martin Burgoyne, ballet teacher and mentor Christopher Flynn, and the artist Keith Haring.
An AIDS tribute segment featuring Burgoyne, Flynn, and Haring during Madonna's 2023 performance of "Live to Tell" Image credits: Chrisweger/Flickr
The Trump administration defended its policy, with State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott saying that “an awareness day is not a strategy.”
“Under the leadership of President Trump, the State Department is working directly with foreign governments to save lives and increase their responsibility and burden sharing,” Pigott added.
The U.S. State Department message to employees said they could “tout the work being done “to counter this dangerous disease and other infectious diseases around the world, but they should “refrain from publicly promoting World AIDS Day through any communication channels, including social media, media engagements, speeches, or other public-facing messaging.”
Madonna is a staunch advocate for AIDS awareness and research
Image credits: Marijan Murat/Getty Images
Madonna previously donated $400,000 in concert proceeds to the research charity amfAR. She also included a leaflet titled ‘The Facts About AIDS’ in her 1989 album Like a Prayer, encouraging safer-sex practices.
“Let me say it one more time—there still isn’t a cure for AIDS, and people still die from it. I refuse to acknowledge that these people have died in vain. And I will continue to honor World AIDS Day, and I hope you will honor it with me,” she said on Instagram.
Earlier in the year, the Trump administration froze foreign aid, which interrupted global public-health programs focused on HIV.
Modeling studies suggest that such cuts by the U.S. and foreign governments could result in 10 million additional HIV infections. It would affect 1 million children and cause 3 million additional deaths over the next five years.
A red ribbon hung on the White House in 2010. Image credits: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
On World AIDS Day, the State Department sends data from the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) to Congress, which financially supports HIV programs globally. The program’s budget was sharply cut back earlier this year, with reports alleging the administration is planning to end it.
This is another program in a long list of those cut under sweeping budget cuts. Earlier this July, the U.S. froze a $9.7 million stockpile of contraceptives abroad, which was on its way to women in low-income countries and crisis zones in sub-Saharan Africa.
Some of the supplies have reportedly spoiled, and aid groups that offered to buy and redistribute them were turned away after the administration invoked a policy blocking foreign organizations that provide abortion services from receiving U.S. funding. The contraceptives involved do not induce abortion.
The U.S. also terminated grants for the United Nations Population Fund that provide maternal health services, protection from violence, rape treatment, and lifesaving care to women across the world.
Domestically, the administration canceled $3 billion in grants supporting women’s health, education, and economic advancement, according to the Center for American Progress.