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Puffy Decries AIDS Effort
Nov 23, 10:50 AM EST
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Rapper Sean "P. Diddy" Combs and R&B singer Alicia Keys teamed up Saturday to highlight the plight of Africa's millions of AIDS victims, and accused the world of ignoring the severity of the AIDS epidemic.
"I don't think you see enough of this story in your face," an indignant Combs told reporters. "There are millions and millions of people that are dying and a lot of it is ... because it's Africans, it's black people that are dying at this high rate."
Combs and Keys are in South Africa to perform at MTV's Staying Alive Concert in Cape Town, scheduled for later Saturday, which aims at promoting AIDS awareness. American R&B artist Usher and top South African acts Mandoza and Zola also were featured on the bill.
The concert will be broadcast on MTV globally as a 90-minute special for World AIDS Day, Dec. 1.
Keys and Combs have spent several days in South Africa, visiting AIDS projects and said they were shocked at the extent of the AIDS problem.
"Once you know about it, you are almost an accessory to the genocide ... if you don't do anything about it," said Combs, 33, who was formerly known as Puff Daddy.
An estimated 4.7 million South Africans — about 11 percent of the population — are HIV positive, one of the world's highest infection rates.
Keys, who at 21 has already won five Grammy awards, said she felt obliged as an artist to use her influence among the youth to educate them about AIDS and practicing safe sex.
Keys added her signature to that of artists Elton John, Dave Matthews, Michelle Branch and Missy Elliot on a "Staying Alive" jacket designed by the concert's co-sponsors Levis', which is to be auctioned off over the Internet. The money raised will be used for AIDS awareness programs.
Funded in part by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Saturday's concert is intended to help fight the stigma and discrimination that surrounds the illness. Organizers say they hope the message of prevention will help young people make informed decisions.
A similar concert was held on Nov. 7 in Seattle, with performances by Matthews, Michelle Branch and Missy Elliott.
"More than half of HIV infections are below the age of 25 and tragically that's our audience, so there's a natural interest," said MTV's president William Roedy. "Business has just not done enough... to fight this epidemic. We need to be doing much more."
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