Actors Undergo Public HIV Screening to Encourage 1 Million Black Americans to Get Tested and Stop the AIDS Epidemic

Actors Undergo Public HIV Screening to Encourage 1 Million Black Americans to Get Tested and Stop the AIDS Epidemic

- Regina King to reveal HIV test results at press conference -

LOS ANGELES, June 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --
WHAT: In anticipation of National HIV Testing Day, Screen Actors
Guild, the American Federation for Television and Radio
Artists, the Black AIDS Institute, Artists for a New South
Africa, Palms Residential Care Facility and the Beverly
Hills/Hollywood branch of the NAACP will launch the "1 in a
Million" campaign by hosting an HIV screening event and press
conference at the national Screen Actors Guild headquarters
featuring A-list Black celebrities being tested for HIV in
front of the cameras. The group will call on 1 million Black
Americans to get tested for HIV by World AIDS Day '08 (Dec. 1)
and will answer questions from reporters.

Those who plan to attend and publicly take an HIV test at the
press conference include:
Jimmy Jean-Louis ("Heroes"); Regina King ("Ray," "24"); Hill
Harper ("CSI: New York"); Rockmond Dunbar ("Prison Break,"
"Heartland"); Alan Rosenberg ("The Guardian," "Cybil"); Jasmine
Guy ("A Different World"); Indigo Nichols ("Weeds"); Robi Reed
(RR Casting); Meagan Tandy (Miss California USA 2007); Vanessa
Williams ("Soul Food"); Regina Taylor ("The Unit"); Sheryl Lee
Ralph ("ER," Original "Dreamgirls" on Broadway); Hosea Chanchez
("The Game"); Jamal Weathers ("Shooter"); Antonio Pena ("Young
& The Restless"); Angie Stone (recording artist); Darius
McCrary ("Transformers"); Sandi McCree ("The Wire"); Anne-Marie
Johnson ("CSI," "JAG"); Ovie Mughelli (Atlanta Falcons); Isaac
Keys (Arizona Cardinals); Henry Simmons ("Shark"); Tatyana Ali
("The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air"); Kym Whitley ("Grey's Anatomy,"
"Reno 911!"); Samaki Walker, Rob Sommers and Deandre Walker
(NBA); Jenifer Lewis ("Strong Medicine"); Alexandra Paul
("Baywatch"); Evan Dexter Parke ("King Kong"); Lamman Rucker
("Half & Half"); Beverly White (KNBC-TV); Yvette Nicole Brown
("The Office"); Gina Belafonte ("Friends"); Colette Divine
("Sarong Song"); J. Karen Thomas ("Crossing Jordan"); Vida
Guerra; Earl Cole (Winner, "Survivor: Fiji"); Howard Hesseman
("Boston Legal," "WKRP in Cincinnati"); Author/journalist Gil
Robertson will sign copies of Not in My Family: AIDS in the
African-American Community. Phill Wilson (Executive Director,
Black AIDS Institute) will be available for interviews, Gloria
Reuben ("ER", "Life Support") will be available from New York
City, and Wendy Davis ("Army Wives") and Shari Belafonte ("The
District") will be available via telephone.

WHY: The June 25th press conference is part of a national Mass Black
Response to the AIDS epidemic sponsored by the Black AIDS
Institute, The Balm In Gilead, the National Black Leadership
Commission on AIDS and leading national Black Institutions.
The Black AIDS Mobilization (BAM) is committed to ending the
AIDS epidemic in Black America by 2012 by:

-- Cutting HIV rates in Black America by 50%
-- Increasing the number of Black Americans who know their HIV
status by 50%
-- Increasing the number of Black Americans in appropriate
early care/treatment by 50%
-- Reducing HIV/AIDS stigma in Black America by 50%

Black Americans are disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS.
Of the 1.3 million Americans living with HIV/AIDS, nearly 50
percent of them are Black. Black Americans represent more than
54 percent of the new HIV/AIDS cases in the United States.
AIDS is the leading cause of death for African American women
aged 24-34. A study by the CDC showed that forty-six percent
of Black gay men in America may already be HIV positive.
Twenty-five percent of HIV positive people in the U.S. do not
know they are infected.

WHEN: Monday, June 25, 2007, 10:00-11:00am PT

WHERE: Screen Actors Guild National Headquarters:
5757 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90036

CONTACT: For more information or to arrange interviews, please contact
Doug Hochstedler at 212.798.9724 or
doug_hochstedler@cohnwolfe.com

This educational event is sponsored by the Black AIDS Institute, Artists for a New South Africa, Screen Actors Guild, Palms Residential Care Facility, NAACP (Beverly Hills/Hollywood branch), Black Hollywood Education and Resource Center, BET Network/Rap It Up, TV One and the Pan African Film Festival with funding and other support provided by the M.A.C. AIDS Fund, the Ford Foundation, The Gill Foundation, Open Society Institute, and Merck & Co., Inc.

Source: Screen Actors Guild; Black AIDS Institute

CONTACT: Doug Hochstedler of Cohn & Wolfe, +1-212-798-9724,
doug_hochstedler@cohnwolfe.com, for Screen Actors Guild and Black AIDS
Institute

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