Elton John in tirade against AIDS stigma
British pop superstar Elton John has lashed out at those who continue to stigmatize AIDS as “fascists and idiots”, and called on governments to keep funding the fight against the disease.
John, in Sydney to mark World AIDS Day, said the battle was being won but warned it would be a mistake for governments to let their guard down, with UN figures showing some 34 million people living with HIV/AIDS in 2010.
“We’ve got this disease really by the scruff of the neck,” he told a crowd at Circular Quay late Thursday, Australian Associated Press reported.
“But we cannot loosen that grip we have on it. If governments start backing out and stop funding, then the epidemic will start to balloon again.”
John, who is married to his male partner David Furnish, said the world needed to “fight a new war, to get the funding necessary to actually kill the disease once and for all”.
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