BET Shines Spotlight on AIDS, HIV

BET Monday will dedicate a full episode of its music countdown show 106 & Park at 6 p.m. ET to examining the growing HIV and AIDS epidemic in the African American community, part of the network’s programming schedule for World AIDS Day.

106 & Park will be followed immediately by Are You Positive?, a half-hour special addressing the stigma surrounding AIDS and HIV as part of BET Networks' partnership with Kaiser Family Foundation and its Emmy Award-winning public education campaign, “Rap-It-Up.”

During this year's World AIDS Day special, 106 & Park hosts Terrence and Rocsi, along with surprise celebrity guests and HIV/AIDS experts, will sound off about the nation's leading killer of African Americans and encourage viewers to know the facts and their status surrounding the deadly disease, network officials said.

Are You Positive? profiles four young people—two of whom are living with HIV, two who are not—who open up their lives, sharing what they do for work and fun, as well as their passions and dreams, to challenge the stereotypes about who HIV affects. In the final act, the characters reveal their status and talk, with inspiring openness, about how HIV has affected each of their lives.

Are You Positive? is a production of BET News. Grant Clark serves as producer for the special with Russ Torres as supervising producer and Keith Brown as executive producer.