[Photo: AIDS activist John Weir on the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather]

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Acting Up
Recorded in New York City.
Premiered June 15, 2001, on All Things Considered.


On January 22nd, 1991, five days after the first shot was fired in the Persian Gulf War, three AIDS activists snuck onto the set of the CBS Evening News and ran in front of the camera chanting "Fight AIDS, Not Arabs!" They were quickly arrested, a flustered Dan Rather apologized to his audience, and the moment passed.

John Weir was one of the men who protested that day. Two years later, Weir spoke on AIDS community television about getting the attention of the nation and, finally, his father.

Producer: David Isay / Production Assistance: Jamison York / Music: William Ackerman / Funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Special thanks to James Wentzy, Amy Goodman, and Democracy Now. Dedicated to Richard Isay.

 

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MORE

A video excerpt of the protest

Remembering Stonewall, a radio documentary about the Stonewall Riots

The Irreversible Decline of Eddie Socket, a novel by John Weir

AIDS statistics from the National Institutes of Health



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