Madonna is commemorating World AIDS Day and condemning Donald Trump‘s decision not to acknowledge the Dec. 1 date. In an Instagram post on Monday, the Queen of Pop slammed Trump as “ridiculous” and “unthinkable” for not highlighting the effects of the disease.
“Today is World AIDS Day. For four decades, this day has been internationally recognized around the world by people from all walks of life, because millions of people’s lives have been touched by the HIV crisis,” Madonna wrote. “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.”
“Donald Trump has announced that World AIDS Day should no longer be acknowledged,” Madonna added. “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.”
The United States has commemorated Dec. 1 as World Aids Day since 1988, but this year the Department of State told government employees to “refrain from publicly promoting” the day on social media, speeches, and public messaging.
Madonna continued by mentioning her closeness with the losses associated with the disease, including Martin Borgoyne, her roommate and former tour manager, who died of AIDS in 1986. “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,” she wrote.
Madonna shared that she had a “pretty long” list of friends who died because of the disease, including Chris Flynn, her first dance teacher, and artist Keith Haring, who died from issues related to the disease in 1990.
“I’m sure many of you out there can relate. Let me say it one more time—there still isn’t a cure for AIDS, and people still die from it,” Madonna wrote. “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.”
