AIDS

Pedro Zamora Died With a Message. How Did MTV Retell It?

pedrobiopicmtv

Last night MTV premiered Pedro, coinciding with the finale of The Real World: Brooklyn. It was also a chance to kick off MTV’s “GYT: Get Yourself Tested” campaign. Re-telling the story of AIDS activist Pedro Zamora, who appeared on the third season of RW where he shared his story of Cuban immigration and being diagnosed at age 17, Pedro paints a more accurate description of the fella than they could have. Filmmakers didn’t shy away from his always-on-message approach to advocacy (i.e. when MTV’s cameras were rolling, so was he), and they were explicit in explaining how Zamora contracted HIV: unprotected sex. But it’s a little strange to see MTV casting actors to re-enact its own reality show, of which it owns the footage, in some sort of meta-reality experiment bridging the 1990s version of reality TV with whatever era of the niche we’re in now.

For those of you who tuned in: Thoughts? Was this an accurate depiction of Pedro’s life? Did anything about the film infuriate you?

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