Detroit — from www.detnews.com – An operator of a porn site who caused a stir on the Internet this week with a video claiming she infected more than 500 people with HIV told The Detroit News on Friday that she does not have the virus.
“I don’t have AIDS,” Jackie Braxton, 23, said in an interview. “I didn’t infect anybody because I don’t have it. I made the tape because I wanted to raise awareness about AIDS. People are still in the dark.”
Police picked up Braxton at the college she attends downtown Friday and took her to the city’s health department to be tested. The test results are confidential, but Braxton said she does not have HIV, which Detroit Police have confirmed.
The video, posted on Mediatakeout.com, generated several calls to the Detroit Police Department on Wednesday and Thursday because Braxton said many of her alleged victims live in Metro Detroit. Braxton, wearing a bandana over her face, says in the video that she contracted HIV in 1998 and set out to “destroy the world” because she was upset.
“I wouldn’t say I was intentionally trying to scare people,” said Braxton, who appeared giddy during most of The News’ interview.
“Sounds like I should be in Hollywood because I can play a pretty good prank, but at the same time that wasn’t my intention. Should I apologize? OK yeah, I’m sorry to everybody.”
Braxton said she feels bad about making the video that spread panic among Metro Detroiters and others around the country.
But she said she felt her tape served its purpose when she went to the city’s health department and saw people waiting to get tested for AIDS.
“I say great that you can make people do something positive,” said Braxton who said she grew up in Detroit and is majoring in health care administration at a college she didn’t want to identify.
She said she wasn’t intentionally trying to scare people but trying “to kill two birds with one stone” by getting people to get people to practice safe sex and advertise her porn site. She said she did not see a contradiction in her intent.
Braxton, who uses the stage name “Fame” and has a 5-year-old daughter, says she runs her site with her husband. Braxton’s video on the Mediatakeout.com site had recorded more than 430,000 hits by Thursday.
Braxton said she has received some threatening e-mails as a result of the video. She said the entire incident became “surreal when police picked me up.”
Police do not know yet if criminal charges can be levied against Braxton because they don’t know if she has broken any laws. Failure to disclose HIV/AIDS to sex partners is a felony.
“We are 100-percent positive it was a hoax,” said Deputy Chief James Tolbert.
Some Metro Detroiters like 19-year-old Kylise McGee believe Braxton should face criminal charges for her hoax.
“She shouldn’t face anything really big but what she did was really wrong,” said McGee. “I understand what she did (with the) message but she could have destroyed someone’s life.”