Sylvester died in 1988 from AIDS-related complications. Rich Polk via GettyImagesĭisco legend Sylvester James, known simply as Sylvester, was a legendary singer and songwriter from San Francisco known for his signature song, “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real),” and for his flamboyant appearance and falsetto singing voice. Searches stayed relatively high for about 72 hours after the announcement, as well. Of those searches, 1.25 million included words like “condoms,” “HIV testing,” and “HIV symptoms.”.Prompted the highest number of HIV-related searches ever seen on Google to that point: 2.75 million more than any other day.In the 24 hours following his disclosure, Sheen’s announcement: One study estimated that Charlie Sheen’s disclosure was a more effective HIV awareness campaign than any that a city health department could cook up. When he did come out, Sheen shared that he was on antiretroviral medication and that he was undetectable. Sheen was forced to come out while the National Enquirer was preparing a story that would’ve outed his HIV status, proving that HIV stigma still negatively affects people living with HIV today. He was known as something of a Hollywood “bad boy” and talked openly about drug use, a lot of sex, and sex with sex workers. Sheen is also known as the youngest member of the Sheen acting family, which includes Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez.
