‘Empire’ Portrays an H.I.V. Positive Relationship

The television show “Empire” aims to to educate its audience with an H.I.V. positive relationship. Three seasons later, “Empire” has invoked H.I.V./AIDS as a way to educate viewers. According to New York Times Article, episode 4 shows flashbacks about the evolution of Jamal’s courtship with a journalist, including Kai’s disclosure about having H.I.V. In addition, Cookie learns about Kai’s status when she visit him at the hospital, where he is recuperating after having gone missing while reporting a story abroad.

Back in the 1980s and 1990s H.I.V./AIDS was a popular topic for writers’ rooms to destigmatize the disease for everyone else on screen. As the panic around AIDS diminished, so did depictions in scripted television, which became fewer and further between in the early 2000s. “Empire” joins a handful of other shows that have featured characters who are H.I.V. positive, including “Looking,” “How to Get Away With Murder,” and “Pose.” I think that it is imperative that writers of television shows continue to depict characters that have diseases like AIDS because although the numbers have diminished, there are still people living with the disease. Talking about diseases like H.I.V./AIDS helps to inform people and start the conversation about safe sex, especially in same sex couples. Media needs to continue involving different kinds of characters, especially LGBTQ.