On Friday night, rapper Mykki Blanco admitted to the public that he is HIV positive. He also shared this confession on his Facebook page.
“I’ve been HIV positive since 2011, my entire career,” he admitted. “F** stigma and hiding in the dark, this is my real life. I’m healthy, I’ve toured the world 3 times, but I’ve been living in the dark, its time to actually be as a punk as I say I am.”
Rolling Stone describes Mykki Blanco as a passionate advocator for LGPT rights and at times identifies as a transgender. He has traveled the world to fight for gay rights and has become a powerful voice for the gay community.
Just last spring, Blanco was arrested in Portugal for threatening a cop. Blanco asked a Portuguese officer to help him get a voucher for a taxi. The officer responded with a homophobic slur to which Blanco told the cop to “f** off.”
He also traveled to Moscow to protest Russia’s anti-gay propaganda laws and has performed concerts there to show support for the LGBT community.
“I just cant be an image living in fear having people call me brave and it being a lie,” Blanco writes on Facebook in response to why he confessed that he was HIV positive.
Blanco released his new album Gay Dog Food in 2014 and is currently working on another.