John Ayers

When Magic Johnson made his disclosure, there wasn't a similar reaction. There couldn't be, because people didn't know what to do, remember, people (were) asking, 'Can he play basketball?' 'Can I shake his hand?' There wasn't this trove of information about HIV, HIV prevention and HIV testing. When Sheen disclosed, there was this trove of information.

Typically, public health uses top-down strategies. The most effective messages are believed to come from the experts, 'from the top.' The people who know the most about the subject, the people who are paid to sit around and think about the subject, it turns out, though, that if you look at the Sheen effect and if you look at these other examples of organic media events ... that's not the case. These messages, they come from the bottom; they come from ordinary people. People who aren't health experts. Sheen might be a celebrity, but he's not a health expert. Angelina Jolie is not a health expert.

It turns out that actually because of our study, we got to see those things happen. When we published our study, a few weeks later, Charlie Sheen began speaking out about HIV prevention, particularly condoms, and he cited our study as one of the reasons for doing that, we also saw several leading organizations in HIV prevention begin to use Charlie Sheen's disclosure as a way to promote HIV prevention.

[ Being ] hungry I can deal with, it's the thought of being out there [ on the street ] with a dog.

Fortunately, I haven't gotten the virus, but I've fallen victim to it.

There are still people in this world who have a kind heart and a wonderful spirit.