April 29, 2005

Who's Brad Hugging Now?

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt just can’t get enough…of  AIDS advocacy. With Brad’s soon-to-be ex Jennifer Aniston  jilted publicly and Brad and Angelina slandered and stalked, the only bliss from their “alleged” affair may be the tabloids’.  But AIDS awareness has also copped a boon.

Last November, two months before the scandal broke and four months after the duo departed the set of their film Mr. and Mrs. Smith, the golden Trojan himself signed up as a Special Ambassador for Nelson Mandela’s 46664 awareness campaign. He completed his second Ethiopian voyage this week, meeting with AIDS activists and HIVers as an emissary of Bono’s org DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa).

Hmmm…Ms. Jolie’s been a UN Goodwill Ambassador since 2001—even joining five-star AIDS activists Bono, Richard Gere and Sharon Stone this January to lobby for debt relief at the World Economic Forum. Is Brad’s sudden global PWA goodwill  coincidence or the offspring of a more direct connection? And could this coupling of People’s two Most Beautiful People of 2005 infuse desperately needed new dynamism into global AIDS advocacy?

US Weekly staffer and AIDS activist Kevin O’Leary told POZ, “if Angelina's charms have indeed piqued his HIV interest, he's already a pro—what AIDS activist hasn't mixed business with pleasure while away from home 'raising awareness?' What happens in Durban, stays in Durban!”