No, Magic Johnson wasn't cured of HIV by self-proclaimed healer Dr. Sebi | Fact check

Gabrielle Settles, USA TODAY
·4 min read
9
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

The claim: Dr. Sebi cured Magic Johnson of HIV

A Dec. 18, 2023, Facebook video (direct link, archive link) shows an image of self-proclaimed healer Dr. Sebi and footage of people claiming that he cured a celebrity of HIV.

“Did you know that famous celebrity is Magic Johnson?” a woman on screen says, next to a photo of the former NBA basketball star. “(Sebi) completely cured him of AIDS by using a simple natural remedy that not many people know about."

She claims that the cure involved minerals from sea moss and shilajit, a resin found in rocks in the Himalayas.

The video was shared more than 4,000 times in a month.

More from the Fact-Check Team: How we pick and research claims | Email newsletter | Facebook page

Our rating: False

There is no credible evidence the two men knew each other. Johnson has survived HIV due to an antiretroviral drug therapy, not any purported cure from Dr. Sebi. There is no known cure for HIV.

Self-proclaimed doctor falsely claimed he had cure to AIDS; no connection to Johnson

Dr. Sebi, whose real name was Alfredo Bowman, was a self-proclaimed doctor who promoted alternative diets and claimed to have cured AIDS and HIV. As a promoter of alternative medicine, he had multiple celebrity clients, including singer Michael Jackson, rapper Lisa “Left Eye” Lopez, and actors John Travolta and Eddie Murphy.

But there are no credible news report or records that indicate Bowman and Johnson knew each other, much less that he cured Johnson of HIV.

Bowman made unfounded claims that he had the cure for cancer, HIV and other diseases with natural remedies. Although he called himself a doctor, Sebi did not have a medical degree and was charged in 1987 in New York with practicing medicine without a license, according to a report from the New York Amsterdam News. The newspaper reported he was found not guilty in 1988.

Bowman was later sued in 1993 and ordered by the court to stop making claims that he could cure diseases like HIV. He died on Aug. 6, 2016, while in prison for fraud charges. But contrary to the claims made in the Facebook video, Bowman died from contracting pneumonia. He was not killed, a claim USA TODAY previously debunked.

Fact check: No, pandemic accord doesn't allow WHO to mandate vaccines, control governments

In 1991, then-Los Angeles Lakers player Johnson announced in a press conference that he had contracted HIV and would retire from professional basketball effective immediately. But he returned to playing professionally for the U.S. Olympic team and the Lakers in the following years.

He has not been cured of HIV, as there is no known cure. Rather, Johnson has said he remains active and healthy due to a daily medical regimen called highly active antiretroviral therapy, or HAART.

That regimen is comprised of three to four drugs taken twice daily that suppress HIV and inhibit the disease from replicating and developing into AIDS, the most severe form of HIV, according to the National Insitutes of Health.

HAART "reduces mortality and morbidity rates among HIV-infected people and improves their quality of life,” the Pan American Health Organization says in a fact sheet.

The Daily Beast reported that Johnson was placed on the drug regimen in 1994 by Dr. David Ho, at a time when the therapy was still experimental. It became available to the public in 1996, and Johnson has remained on the daily medication for years.

"They told me that the three-drug combination was going to save my life, and they were right," Johnson said in a 2021 interview with The Guardian.

USA TODAY reached out to the Facebook user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Our fact-check sources:

Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or e-newspaper here.

USA TODAY is a verified signatory of the International Fact-Checking Network, which requires a demonstrated commitment to nonpartisanship, fairness and transparency. Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Meta.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: False claim Dr. Sebi cured Magic Johnson of HIV | Fact check