Marlon Wayans, Magic Johnson.
Marlon Wayans is not backing down after a joke about Magic Johnson’s AIDS diagnosis ruffled some major feathers.
During an appearance on Shaquille O’Neal’s “The Big Podcast” in September, Wayans, 52, recalled an old joke he used to tell on stage about Johnson, 65.
“I just said he had the good AIDS,” Wayans told O’Neal, 52. “What AIDS do you get where you live 50 years? I want those AIDS. He’s become a billionaire with AIDS. Give me those AIDS. What kind of AIDS is this? Financial AIDS?”
Johnson announced he was HIV-positive in November 1991, a landmark moment in the way the disease was discussed and understood on a public scale. In the decades since, the former NBA legend has become an advocate for HIV awareness.
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When asked about the controversy surrounding the joke during a Monday, October 21 appearance on The Breakfast Club, Wayans defiantly doubled down.
“Here’s the thing. You’re either going to get mad about the joke or you ain’t,” Wayans said. “If you get mad, you can f—ing leave.”
He continued, “I’m not going to retract statements. I’m not going to retract jokes. They are jokes. If I didn’t go in these dark caves to find this little light and this little elixir called ‘the laugh,’ then what the f— am I doing this for?”
Wayans acknowledged that he’s “not going to make everybody laugh at one time” and said people walked out of his shows when he told the joke about Johnson.
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“Just because they walk out don’t mean it’s going to be a bad joke,” he argued. “I had people walk out on that joke and then that became my biggest joke. It was like, ‘Ohh you can’t say that.’ Oh, I offended you? That means you’re listening. So let me go a little deeper. Let me dig a little deeper because I know there’s oil here.”
Wayans said the joke also earned him an “applause break” from other members of the audience as some made their way to the exits.
When asked by The Breakfast Club host Charlamagne Tha God if Johnson had reached out to him about the joke, Wayans said, “I hope not, but I think when he sees me he’s going to kiss me on the mouth.”
“I have made a living talking s— about people,” Wayans concluded. “That’s what the f— I do. I make fun of things. I’m going to be unforgiving when it comes to it.”
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