Michael Johnson (a.k.a. “Tiger Mandingo”), the college wrestler who was sentenced to 30 years behind bars for allegedly not disclosing his HIV status to his sexual partners, is speaking out for the first time since being released from prison earlier this month.
In 2015, Johnson was found guilty of “recklessly infecting” multiple male partners with HIV while he was a student at Lindenwood University in Missouri. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison by a jury pool stacked with white heterosexuals, the majority of whom admitted that they believed homosexuality was a sin.
His conviction raised questions about America’s HIV criminalization laws, which activists have long said ignore decades of medical science, fail to actually reduce infection rates, and disproportionately punish black men, as HIV rates are higher among people of color.
Both the American Medical Association and the Infectious Diseases Society of America have publicly condemned laws criminalizing HIV.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Last week, Johnson was released from custody after an appeals court ruled his original trial was “fundamentally unfair,” tainted with racism, homophobia, and a prosecuting attorney hellbent on getting a harsher sentence than many murderers receive.
Now, he’s speaking out about his experience for the very first time.
In an emotional interview with his local TV news station, Johnson says he was painted out to be a villain by the media and prosecutors from the very beginning.
“I was a scary big black gay man wrestler that was out to cause harm,” he says.
In truth, he was just a 21-year-old college student who had tested positive for HIV but who didn’t have access to the education or the life-saving medication he needed to treat it.
“Going from state to state made it very difficult for access to care,” Johnson recalls. “And I was a poor person or minority and just, you know, didn’t have the funds needed to buy a car. What could’ve been almost a hundred dollars for just a taxi ride there.”
Johnson continued dating men while his HIV remained untreated, but he never tried to deceive anyone or “recklessly infect” them, as he was accused of doing. In fact, he says, he was always honest about his status with his partners.
“I would never think of doing that to anyone,” Johnson says. “I do not have anything to prove that the person was lying and that I was telling the truth. And it was a he-said, he-said situation.”
After being initially sentenced to 30 years in 2015, his lawyer worked out a plea deal through an appellate court to get his sentence reduced down to 10 years in 2016.
“I didn’t want to take it,” Johnson recalls of the plea deal, but “under those laws it felt that they could’ve given me anything that they wanted.”
Now that he’s out on parole, Johnson says he’s looking towards the future.
He plans to go back to school to finish his degree and then hopes to become a wrestling coach. He also wants to use his story to help get HIV transmission laws repealed not just in Missouri, but around the country.
“I want as many people as possible to know, I am HIV positive,” he says. “If I break down those walls so people are not afraid to speak their truth and to get their story out, the better it will be for change to happen.”
Related: College wrestler sentenced to 30 years in HIV case released from prison after winning appeal
Chrisk
Why would anyone disclose anything in Missouri? All it takes is one lie or confused partner after a night of drinking to set you up for Prison for the rest of your life. I’m glad things are being corrected for this kid.
notasjw
He’s playing the race card gee what a shocker!
Juanjo
You’re a complete douche, what a shocker
jjose712
You are really dumb.
And it’s obvious his race and his sexual orientation played a big role on his first sentence (which is something people wouldn’t believe in other western countries)
JaredMacBride
In this case there’s very little doubt his race mattered in the perception of him by the jury and the sentencing. So he’s correct to bring it up.
curiobi
You can change your screen name but not your stupid comments every time a black person is featured in an article. Trolling is pointless for you becuase everyone knows it’s you regardless of what screen name you use. It’s boring and tired. Just go do something else. Seriously any thing else. It does not take a whole lot of talent to hate people for their skin colour, it is however stupid and pointless. Just leave already.
Cam
So your other screename is not active anymore?
Oh, and sweetie, it was the prosecutor who played the race card, and the jury who bought it.
orbit5
Condoms, rubbers, cunyons, sheepskins. You can find them at every corner drugstore. If you have enough energy to screw, then you have enough energy to run to wal-mart.
curiobi
No shade, cunyons? I tried looking this up but no joy. What are those??!!
Kenny C
Agreed! I honestly do not care to dig into the muck of this messy saga about who said what to whom. While I strongly oppose these laws, I do not see any victims (or heroes) in this scenario. What I see is TWO people that engaged in risky behavior increasing the chance of exposure. Personal responsibility is the issue. No person is better suited to take precaution for the integrity of your body than yourself. While I do not judge bareback sex, I will encourage personal accountability for the consequences. This is buttressed by the availability of Prep these days.
We shouldn’t be criminalizing people in these situations, especially where there is conflicting testimony. We should be fighting to remove the stigma of HIV so that people are less afraid to get tested, know their status so the can get treatment and remain under detectable. Criminalizing HIV, calling positive people dirty, treating them like HIV is a punishment etc… Only pushes people to embrace ignorant bliss. That’s what drives infection rates these days.
Rock-N-RollHS
If he’s telling the truth, he was the one screwed without a condom, and he should sue, although I doubt it would get far. Otherwise, the blame game–poor, black, poor–is b.s. when it comes to knowing about HIV. Take some responsibility. AIDS education is there for anyone with access to Google. btw: “Tiger Mandingo”?! Really?
Cam
Really? Republicans have fought for YEARS to provide abstinence only education in public schools that does’t teach anything about condoms, AIDS, or homosexuality……but now you’re claiming that some guy in Missouri, who came from a public school knows all about these things that Republicans have made sure aren’t taught?
dakota88
Cam I have to agree with RocknRoll. If he had access to the internet for these hook ups then he had access to google.
I find it mind boggling that people still use the “lack of education” argument in the day and age where all published history and information is literally in the palm of everyone’s hand.
What he did was wrong. Hands down.
Those exposed or infected are just stupid for engaging in risky behavior but we are also in the era of “don’t blame the victim” so he had to be blamed.
Manchester
I’m conflicted on this one. To start, I believe that race and homophobia are definitely part of the reason he was sentenced to 30 years. On the other hand, how can you be a college student and not have access to education on HIV in 2015? His excuses sound really thin. Does anyone know how many people he infected?
Kangol2
The news clip this article links to is very informative. In essence, as Missouri law now stands, you can go to jail for 10 years if you know you have HIV, don’t disclose and infect someone else, and 5 years if you know you have HIV, don’t disclose and merely expose someone else to HIV. This is the only disease criminalized in this way, and the sentences are longer than worse crimes, so the law is homophobic and should be repealed. It also suggests that people NOT learn their HIV status because so long as they don’t know, they’re indemnified from prosecution.
Michael Johnson should never have been convicted, let alone imprisoned. The jury did take into account his race and sexual orientation in imposing its draconian sentence. While he should have known about HIV prevention as a college student (though you might be surprised at how little some adults still know about HIV transmission), I doubt he knew about Missouri’s extreme laws. So I do feel bad for him, and I hope he can go on with his life and educate others.
Kenny C
Moreover, There were two ADULTS involved in this situation. His sexual partner should accept responsibility for engaging in risky behavior as well…..He clearly barebacked with a hook up calling himself “Mandingo Tiger”….
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
Any chance we can revisit that whole succession thingy??
VuBerry
I don’t understand why people feel bad for this guy. Johnson signed a document acknowledging he was advised it was a felony to withhold his HIV status from his sexual partners when he was diagnosed, and yet he had sex with 5 HIV-negative gay men who separately claimed he’d outright lied to them about his HIV status when asked, who further claim he had anal sex without a condom, and one of those men seroconverted in the weeks after the encounter. Johnson says he informed all of these men that he was HIV positive prior to having sex with them, but it defies logic to believe all of these HIV-negative men would allow Johnson to top them without a condom in the minutes after he told them he had HIV. It’s fair to talk about whether these laws are outdated because they fail to take into account whether a person uses protection, is undetectable, or doesn’t transmit the virus to his partner, but there aren’t any such mitigating factors at play in this case. This man deserved his conviction.
viciouslies
“he had sex with 5 HIV-negative gay men who separately claimed he’d outright lied to them about his HIV status when asked”
That’s not what I read. Buzzfeed interviewed one of his partners, who never asked him about HIV before they had unprotected sex, said he regularly had unprotected sex with people he barely knew without asking their status, and thought he could tell whether or not they’d have HIV by just looking at them.
I never saw anywhere anything that alleged he lied, just that he didn’t pre-emptively protect these white dudes who wanted the big black guy to raw dog them and didn’t care enough to ask about HIV until afterwards.
VuBerry
The guy you’re referring to asked Johnson if he was “clean,” and Johnson said “yes.” Not all of Johnsons accusers were white, by the way, and that one was black. Buzzfeed has links to all the police reports. You should read them. Most of those men allege they asked Johnson to wear a condom, and in every case he talked them out of it by either saying he was too big to wear a condom or by saying he shouldn’t need one since he was disease free. Even Johnson doesn’t say he kept his status to himself. Johnsons story is that he told them all he was HIV positive and they agreed to have unsafe sex with him because they wanted to be with him so badly.
Rex Huskey
is this the best “come back” he could plan during his time away?