News One » Magic Johnson

Magic Johnson Regrets Retiring From NBA Because Of HIV

Johan Thomas — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 16:03:28 +0000

In November 1991, 5-time NBA champion Earvin “Magic” Johnson abruptly retired after announcing that he was HIV-positive.

The moment was a turning point in the history of the virus, bringing HIV to the forefront of the American consciousness and opening African-American eyes to what was then known at the time as a “gay/white” disease.

Twenty years later, Johnson sits down with L.A. Times columnist Bill Plaschke, admitting he is now healthy and how he regrets leaving the NBA.

Magic Johnson Announces That He Will Create Jobs In Detroit

Gerren Keith Gaynor — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 14:55:30 +0000

DETROIT--Magic Johnson said via Twitter that he plans to create jobs in his hometown Detroit. He teased that he will also be making a "big announcement" in the near future. A second tweet read, “Look forward to help putting people back to work in my home state.” ... Read more..

Broadway Plans Play Based On Magic Johnson and Larry Bird

Associated Press — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 18:34:56 +0000

NEW YORK — The producers and playwright behind the Broadway play “Lombardi” aren’t done with sports just yet.

They’re planning to go from football to basketball with “Magic/Bird,” a new play that will chronicle the lives of Hall of Famers Larry Bird and Earvin “Magic” Johnson.

“Lombardi” playwright Eric Simonson’s script will trace the two basketball stars’ rivalry and friendship from their days as rookies in the NBA to the Olympic Dream Team.

The six-character play is scheduled to debut on Broadway in 2012.

Like “Lombardi,” which benefited from endorsement by the National Football League, the new play about Bird and Magic will be produced in association with the National Basketball Association.

Producers Fran Kirmser and Tony Ponturo say Johnson and Bird will participate in the creative process.

Magic Johnson: I’d Never Play With Bird, Jordan

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Magic Johnson Invests In Vibe Magazine

Associated Press — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 19:30:59 +0000

NEW YORK — Magic Johnson is set to play point again, this time as chairman of Vibe Holdings, the owner of the magazines Vibe and Uptown and the Soul Train TV show.

The former Los Angeles Lakers superstar will take on the role as part of a new investment by Magic Johnson Enterprises and Ron Burkle’s The Yucaipa Companies in Vibe Holdings, joining its existing owner, InterMedia Partners.

Johnson said Wednesday that his company aims to serve the underserved urban market and work with advertisers seeking to reach it.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

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Magic Johnson Brings Urban Entrepreneurs Together With Investors

Casey Gane-McCalla, Lead Blogger — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 16:10:04 +0000

Los Angeles (NBCNews)–Magic Johnson had some advice from up and coming business owners at a conference in Los Angeles designed to bring together investors and business owners from the inner city. NBC Los Angeles reports:

“What you could do is rub elbows with them. Trade information. Tell them what you’re doing, what your business is, why you’re trying to get capital. Probably how much, what’s your business strategy. You can do everything in a day that I had to wait for years to do,” according to Johnson, keynote speaker.

The Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) teamed up with the Small Business Administration, and Bank of America to invite than 100 growing inner city companies from around the nation to pitch their ideas to potential investors here in Los Angeles.

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Obama Hoops With Dream Team, LeBron, Grant Hill, Magic

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Obama Hoops With Dream Team, LeBron, Grant Hill, Magic

NewsOne Staff — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 12:35:48 +0000

Every hoops fan dreams of that one special birthday when his pro-ball heroes gather on a court to see if he’s got game.

President Obama had that chance Sunday, assembling a virtual dream team of college and pro basketball players for a presidential pickup game in front of wounded veterans and participants in a White House mentoring program. Watch Obama play 3-on-3 here:

Obama, who turned 49 on Wednesday, took to the court for a game with a stunning list of all-stars, including Grant Hill, Shane Battier, Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Derek Fisher, LeBron James, Earvin “Magic” Johnson, Maya Moore, Alonzo Mourning, Chris Paul, Derrick Rose, Bill Russell, Etan Thomas, Dwyane Wade and David West. The game was closed to the media.

Click here to read more at WashPost.com

Click here to see gallery of Obama from infancy to presidency

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Magic Johnson: I’d Never Play With Bird, Jordan

NewsOne Staff — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 14:36:01 +0000

FROM ESPN.com:

Add Magic Johnson’s voice to fellow Hall of Famer Michael Jordan’s: Neither ever thought of combining forces the way LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh did earlier this month with the Miami Heat.

“We didn’t think about it ’cause that’s not what we were about,” Johnson said at Baruch College in New York, according to Bloomberg News. “From college, I was trying to figure out how to beat Larry Bird.”

Click here to read more.

Click here to view photos:

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EXCLUSIVE: Michelle Obama, Spike Lee & Magic Johnson In Detroit

NewsOne Staff — Thu, 27 May 2010 14:56:11 +0000

By Ashley AC Trybula

Wayne State University‘s Tom Adams Field was packed Wednesday morning to hear first lady’s speech on mentoring and the future of Detroit: the youth.

Obama pushed those in the audience, including more then 5,000 Detroit Public Schools students, to focus on their studies and make a difference in their lives. She used her life and that of her husband, President Barack Obama, as examples of how students can rise from modest upbringings to the highest office in the land.

Michelle Obama, wearing a hot pink, sleeveless dress, told students she was going to share a secret with them, the secret of success.

What was the secret?

“There is no secret,” she said. “It is your education. It is mastering math and science and learning how to write well … that’s what the difference is for so many people.”

WATCH highlights of her speech:

Previous to Michelle’s Speach, Hollywood director Spike Lee and basketball legend Magic Johnson along with a panel full of heavy hitters including former “American Idol” contestant Kimberly Locke. Several local officials joined forces with the first lady including Gov. Jennifer Granholm, Mayor Dave Bing, Congressman John Conyers and Denise Ilitch, whose family owns the Detroit Red Wings. The panel answered student questions and stressed the importance of being a mentor.

Michelle Obama was also accompanied by Michigan first gentleman Dan Mulhern, who actively promotes Mentor Michigan, which oversees more than 200 state mentoring programs, and Susan Cares, founder of the National CARES Mentoring Movement.

The White House said the event is “designed to engage, encourage and inspire.”

Michelle Obama is asking thousands of Detroit-area students to rise up and become the next great leaders of the city and the country.

Click here to view photos:

Obama says she and her husband, President Barack Obama, believe in them and says she knows they “can do this.”

Obama called on everyone to help others, every race, creed, black, white, Asian, Arab-American. And “both sides of Eight Mile,” she said. This quote in particular was a huge hit with the Detroit crowd.

WATCH full speech here:

The first Lady also held a special lunch afterwards with Detroit students.

The Detroit trip is part of Obama’s mentoring outreach. In March 2009, during Women’s History Month, she focused on young women, and paired up female high school students in the Washington, D.C., area with female staff in the White House.

Last year, 28,536 Michigan children were helped by 19,578 mentors, according to a survey of 161 of the Mentor Michigan-supported groups.

There are 238 organizations in the Mentor Michigan Registry.

Such programs have been found to help disadvantaged youths do better in school, have higher self-esteem and not fall into criminal behavior.

Contributing Sources:
Patrick Harris
detnews.com
Morris Davis

DR. BOYCE: Should Magic Johnson Buy Ebony Magazine?

Dr. Boyce Watkins — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 17:36:06 +0000

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett once said that he would never buy any newspaper for any price, since the industry has potential for unending losses. Besides financial positions he holds in a couple of media companies (for reasons that I won’t go into), Buffett avoids that industry like the plague. Magazines aren’t much different from newspapers, since people just don’t have an appetite for paper anymore. When the Internet stepped into media, the entire game changed, and I believe that it has changed for the better: barriers to entry have been eliminated, and power is not concentrated to a select few, but shared in a more Democratic fashion.

Black America is no different from everyone else, as we’ve slowly put down our Ebonys and Jets, and are now getting our news with the click of a mouse. We are more likely to read sites like NewsOne, TheGrio and Black Voices than we are to actually pay money to carry around a pile of paper with week old information. The juggernauts of media are dying a slow death, as media has opened up in ways we never thought possible.

By looking into the purchase of Ebony Magazine, Magic Johnson might be making a good move for himself and his company. I have no idea how the negotiations are going behind closed doors, and I certainly applaud Magic for trying to save such an important institution within the black community. I do wonder, however, why other companies have not come along and swooped up Ebony the same way that Essence Magazine was quickly eaten by the Viacom empire. Is it because Ebony is a risky purchase? Was the asking price too high? Was the company insistent upon remaining black-owned? Personally, I prefer to see Ebony Magazine remained black-owned, but new and creative management strategies are critical in order for the company to prosper.

Ad revenue for Ebony has dropped to just $35 million per year, a 38 percent decline from a year before. Ad space in Ebony Magazine was once cherished and valued in the tens of thousands of dollars per ad. Now, the luster of appearing in their pages has diminished dramatically. In order for Ebony to survive and prosper, Magic Johnson would have to find a way to utilize the Ebony brand name in a new and more creative business model. I am not sure if Magic has the expertise to pull it off, but it will be interesting to see if he can.

I must confess, however, that Magic’s business relationships confuse me. On one hand, I am excited about his commitment to creating economic establishments within African American neighborhoods that others are afraid to visit. On the other hand, I become disheartened to see Magic doing commercials for companies like Rent-a-Center, where people in urban America are being continuously exploited (the Congressional Black Caucus is also supporting the rent-to-own industry, which is reason for us all to be concerned). He, and other recognizable black male figures, such as Russell Simmons and Montel Williams are lending their names to companies that charge extraordinarily high fees to either loan you money or give you access to your own money. Either way, there’s a problem.

But the bottom line is that Magic is doing something special with his life. He has transformed a sad ending to his basketball career into a celebrated revival that presents him as an empowered businessman who remains connected to his community. The challenge Magic must overcome is making sure that he doesn’t simply become another slum lord, but instead becomes the kind of leader that the community needs in order to make a difference. For that to occur, he can’t follow the model of Bob Johnson at BET, or that of his buddy Michael Jordan, men who simply waste their lives chasing money: A more altruistic African American capitalist is someone who knows how to genuinely balance the bottom line with the fact that lifting a community doesn’t always mean making the highest profit you possibly can. Giving back means more than financing two or three scholarships every year: It means truly working to lift people out of poverty in a way that genuinely promotes productive behavior. Productive behavior DOES NOT involve teaching people how to visit the local Rent-a-Center.

It is my hope that Ebony Magazine does indeed find a buyer. Magic Johnson is as good as any at this point. But the great challenge for Magic and everyone else involved is that no one knows how deep the rabbit hole goes when it comes to the massive losses in media. That is going to make this an interesting story to follow.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.

Magic Johnson In Talks To Buy Ebony

News One — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 14:33:09 +0000

From Reuters.com:

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Magic Johnson, the Hall of Fame basketball player, is in talks to purchase Johnson Publishing Co, the publisher of Ebony and Jet magazines, Bloomberg reported on Friday.

Bloomberg cited Eric Holoman, president of Los Angeles-based Magic Johnson Enterprises, as saying “there have been discussions.” Holoman declined to comment further, Bloomberg said.

Text continues after gallery…

Holoman could not immediately be reached by Reuters for comment.

Click here to read more.

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Isiah Thomas Responds To Criticisms From Magic Johnson’s New Book

News One — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 19:20:07 +0000

From Sports Illustrated:

When he heard the criticisms from his former friend Magic Johnson in a soon-to-be-released book, Isiah Thomas said he’d had enough. And so he began to fight back.

“I’m really hurt, and I really feel taken advantage of for all these years,” said Thomas, the Hall of Fame point guard and former NBA coach and executive, most recently with the Knicks. “I’m totally blindsided by this. Every time that I’ve seen Magic, he has been friendly with me. Whenever he came to a Knick game, he was standing in the tunnel [to the locker room] with me. He and [Knicks assistant coach] Herb [Williams] and I, we would go out to dinner in New York. I didn’t know he felt this way.”

The criticisms are made by Johnson in When The Game Was Ours, which he co-wrote with Larry Bird and author Jackie MacMullan. The book, to be released on Nov. 4, tells the inside story of the most important rivalry in basketball history.

Much of their story involves Thomas, who as captain of the Detroit Pistons served as a primary threat to the championship ambitions of Bird’s Celtics and Magic’s Lakers. The book offers revelations that have stunned Thomas. Magic addresses years of rumors by finally accusing Thomas of questioning his sexuality after Johnson was diagnosed with HIV in 1991. Magic also admits that he joined with Michael Jordan and other players in blackballing Thomas from the 1992 Olympic Dream Team, saying, “Isiah killed his own chances when it came to the Olympics. Nobody on that team wanted to play with him. … Michael didn’t want to play with him. Scottie [Pippen] wanted no part of him. Bird wasn’t pushing for him. Karl Malone didn’t want him. Who was saying, ‘We need this guy?’ Nobody.”

Click here to read more.

Isiah Thomas, Love & Basketball