Charlie Sheen HIV reports: Inflammatory media coverage compared to 1980s reporting on HIV

Tabloid reports have speculated on and judged his love live, sex life and struggles with drug abuse

Charlie Sheen (Getty Images)

Charlie Sheen will sit down with NBC to make a "revealing personal announcement" on Tuesday morning, a day before the National Enquirer was seemingly due to publish a “shocking” eight page report claiming he has hidden a HIV diagnosis for four years.

The US tabloid published a cover story due to hit stands on 18 November claiming Sheen is HIV positive. Sheen’s unconfirmed alleged diagnosis was presented as a “deadly secret” by the editor in chief of the Enquirer and a number of inflammatory headlines have reinforced the “panic” over his sexual activity. He has been hounded by tabloid speculation that he could be the unidentified Hollywood “womaniser” in the original Radar Online report, every aspect of his life dissected and judged. If Sheen does have HIV, what about his right to privacy?

The Anger Management star’s treatment in the media and the speculation over whether he has HIV has been compared to reporting of the virus in the 1980s when the HIV/Aids epidemic began and described as a “gross HIV guessing game” by The Daily Beast.

“It feels like the 1980s, because of the nature of the speculation, which is purely prurient about Sheen basically being a man-slut, and how many people he has infected with HIV - and how knowingly has he done so, without disclosing his status to them. None of this is known - not Sheen’s identity as the celebrity, nor his deeds and misdeeds. But the hysteria is well underway.”

A number of outlets including TMZ and The Daily Mail published pieces commenting on his reported sexual history and suggesting he may have engaged in risky sexual behaviour and taken drugs, despite Sheen still not confirming or denying that he even has HIV.

Such “slut-shaming” reports referenced Sheen’s drug and alcohol abuse and his “womanising”, with many repeating claims the 50-year-old has had sexual relations with thousands of women.

The Daily Mail responded to reports on Monday with an “exclusive” article painting the actor as reclusive and paranoid.

TMZ suggested Sheen had not told his sexual partners of his diagnosis and had been threatened with lawsuits. It quoted a source as saying Sheen had paid thousands of dollars to secure confidentially agreements preventing anyone from discussing his alleged reported diagnosis.

The Enquirer, in a desperate bid to claw back its “expose”, announced exactly what it believed Sheen would say when its editor-in-chief spoke during the Today show.

Dylan Howard, told Australia’s KIIS Network Drive show: “Sheen is only talking tomorrow because we went to him last week and told him that we were about to publish an expose.”

Tom Hayes, the editor of Beyond Positive, said the media has painted a sexually active single man, behaving as many single people in Hollywood might do, as a “monster”.

Mr Hayes told The Independent: “If a celebrity has HIV then they will undoubtedly have access to the best healthcare on the planet, meaning that the virus would almost without a question be undetectable and meaning they would not be able to pass it on.

“The whole reporting of the affair feels a bit like the tabloids outing gay politicians in the 1980s - they are presenting it as dirty secret and something people living with HIV should be ashamed of. At the time when there are 26,000 people living in the UK who don’t know they have HIV, reporting on it like this will only make it less likely these people will get tested because they don’t want to be demonised like he has.

“If he does say he has HIV then I would hope the media would lead on a story saying Hollywood celeb comes out and uses it as an example for people to get tested ahead of National HIV Testing Week, which is next week.”