Ricky Martin on Dec. 2 will headline the AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s annual World AIDS Day Concert. 

The event will take place at the Watsco Center at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Fla.

Every year, the AHF, the world’s largest HIV/AIDS healthcare organization, hosts its World AIDS Day Concert to honor those lost to HIV/AIDS, and bring attention to the global fight against HIV/AIDS. The organization will host the concert one day after World AIDS Day, which takes place on Dec. 1. 

Ricky Martin — known globally as the “King of Latin Pop” — has long used his stardom to shed light on issues, having used his platform to advocate for and bring awareness to HIV/AIDS, human trafficking, and LGBTQ rights. The Puerto Rico native came out as gay in 2010. 

“Ricky has shown a deep commitment to breaking stigma, educating youth, and empowering communities to take action,” the AHF said on a post on Instagram.

The event will also feature a performance by DJ Spinderella, a DJ and rapper, and the AHF Lifetime Achievement award will be presented to Dr. Julio Frenk, the University of Miami’s outgoing president and chancellor-designate for UCLA. 

In the past, performers from Janet Jackson to Diana Ross to Mariah Carey have taken the stage at World AIDS Day events. Last year, the AHF presented its Lifetime Achievement Award to actor and activist Blair Underwood.

The concert is taking place in Miami, which has been at the center of the HIV epidemic. 

A 2019 study found Miami had the highest rate of new HIV diagnoses in the U.S. Southern states in general continue to be disproportionately impacted by an increase in new diagnoses. 

“This concert isn’t just a celebration of lives saved and advances in treatment, it’s a call to action,” AHF said in a statement. “Together, we can raise awareness and support those affected by HIV/AIDS in Miami and beyond.”

The Illinois Supreme Court on Thursday overturned Jussie Smollett’s conviction on charges that he staged and lied to the police about being the victim of a homophobic and racist hate crime in 2019. 

The court ruled the actor should not have been prosecuted again after he had already reached a deal with prosecutors to resolve the case. 

However, the ruling did not address whether Smollett was innocent of staging the hate crime, as he has continued to claim, overturning the conviction on the grounds that the second prosecution was a due process violation. 

“We are aware that this case has generated significant public interest and that many people were dissatisfied with the resolution of the original case and believed it to be unjust,” Justice Elizabeth Rochford wrote in the court’s 5-0 opinion, referring to the initial deal Smollett had reached. “Nevertheless, what would be more unjust than the resolution of any one criminal case would be a holding from this court that the state was not bound to honor agreements upon which people have detrimentally relied.”

In 2019, the “Empire” star claimed he had been physically attacked by two men in a homophobic and racist hate crime. He told Chicago police that they had put a noose around his neck, yelled slurs, and told him that he was in “MAGA country” during the attack. 

He initially received an outpouring of support, particularly from the LGBTQ and Black communities. But police soon charged him with filing a false report, alleging he had staged the attack as part of a hoax. 

Prosecutors controversially dismissed the initial charges in exchange for community service and the forfeiture of his $10,000 bond. After public outcry, a special prosecutor recharged Smollett with the same offenses in 2020. 

The Illinois Supreme Court on Thursday found this second prosecution violated the deal initially reached by the state, as well as Smollett’s due process rights. 

In 2021, a Cook County jury found Smollett guilty on the charges the special prosecutor had brought against him, and he was sentenced to 150 days in jail and 30 months of probation, along with a $120,000 restitution payment to the city of Chicago for the overtime costs incurred by police investigating his initial hate crime claim.

He only served six days in jail before he was released upon appealing his case. An Illinois Appellate Court upheld his guilty verdict last year, after which he appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court. 

In a Washington Blade interview in September, Smollett addressed his conviction, denying that he had staged the attack.

“I know what happened and soon you all will too,” he told the Blade.

Asked to address the concern among some in the LGBTQ community that his case would discredit victims of hate crimes and make it more difficult to report future such crimes, he responded, “If someone reported a crime and it wasn’t the truth, that would actually make it more difficult [to report future crimes], but I didn’t. Any belief that they have about the person that I’ve been played out to be, sure, but that person is not me, never has been. So I stand with my community. I love my community and I protect and defend my community until I’m bloody in my fist.” 

BY TIM PRUDENTE | A Bethesda real estate investor nabbed Kevin Spacey’s waterfront Baltimore mansion at auction last month for a bargain, only now he has a problem.

Spacey, he said, has not given up the house.

The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website.