GLAAD Demands Retraction From The View Over Down-Low/AIDS Comments

GLAAD is demanding that View host Sherri Shepherd and guest moderator D.L. Hughley retract their comments that black men on the down-low are responsible for the majority of HIV infections in black women.

While discussing the FDA's ban that prevents gay and bisexual men from donating blood, Shepherd and Hughley communicated misinformation about the causes of increased HIV rates among African American women and used the phrase "down low" to describe men who have sex with men but publicly identify as heterosexual. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC), however, has debunked the dangerous myth that Shepherd and Hughley cited on the program. Dr. Kevin Fenton, director of the Centers for Disease Control's National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention talked about his research to NNPA News in October 2009. Fenton said that the CDC "has looked to see what proportion of [HIV] infections is coming from male partners who are bisexual and found there are actually relatively few," and goes on to attribute most infections to other factors.

GLAAD has posted contact information for the show's producers and ABC, asking that you request an apology and a retraction.