Madonna has condemned the Donald Trump administration for its decision not to acknowledge World AIDS Day this year, calling it “ridiculous” and “absurd”. The US State Department reportedly instructed employees and grantees earlier this month to refrain from using federal funding to commemorate the day, ending a decades-long tradition of recognising those killed by AIDS.
In an Instagram post on Monday, the singer expressed her outrage, stating that “Donald Trump has announced that World AIDS Day should no longer be acknowledged”. She criticised the move as “unthinkable” and noted that millions of lives have been touched by the HIV crisis, adding that there is still no cure for the disease.
Madonna, a longtime advocate for AIDS awareness, spoke about personal losses to the disease, including her former roommate Martin Burgoyne and artist Keith Haring. She questioned whether Trump had ever watched a friend die of AIDS, writing, “I bet he’s never watched his best friend die of AIDS, held their hand, and watched the blood drain from their face.”
State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott defended the decision, stating that “an awareness day is not a strategy” and that the department is working directly with foreign governments to save lives. The decision comes amid proposed cuts to HIV funding, including a $1.9bn reduction to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, though the proposal has yet to be finalised by Congress.
