Madonna slammed President Donald Trump for directing government employees and agencies not to commemorate World AIDS Day this year.

Last month, public health expert Emily Bass publicized a State Department email asking personnel not to use government resources or communications channels to promote the day, which was first marked in 1988, claiming it was part of a broader policy “to refrain from messaging on any commemorative day.”

Madonna joined activists and health experts outraged by the decision in a Monday Instagram post, where she called the White House’s decision “ridiculous” and also wrote about the human cost of the AIDS epidemic.

“For four decades, this day has been internationally recognized around the world by people from all walks of life, because millions of people’s lives have been touched by the HIV crisis,” she wrote.

“People have lost lovers and husbands and wives and girlfriends and boyfriends and mothers and daughters and children to this deadly disease, of which there is still no cure.”

Madonna, here at the 2025 Met Gala in May, criticized President Donald Trump after his administration directed government employees not to commemorate World AIDS Day this year.

Dimitrios Kambouris via Getty Images

“Donald Trump has announced that World AIDS Day should no longer be acknowledged,” the “Hung Up” singer went on. “It’s one thing to order federal agents to refrain from commemorating this day, but to ask the general public to pretend it never happened is ridiculous, it’s absurd, it’s unthinkable.”

Writing about the personal pain of losing a loved one to the virus, Madonna added, “I bet he’s never watched his best friend die of AIDS, held their hand, and watched the blood drain from their face as they took their last breath at the age of 23.”

“The list of people that I have known and loved and lost to AIDS is pretty long,” her post continued. “I’m sure many of you out there can relate.”

“Let me say it one more time — there still isn’t a cure for AIDS and people still die from it. I refuse to acknowledge that these people have died in vain. And I will continue to honor World AIDS Day, and I hope you will honor it with me,” she concluded.

A spokesperson for the Trump administration defended the decision in a statement, saying, "An awareness day is not a strategy."

Pete Marovich via Getty Images

State Department deputy spokesperson Tommy Pigott defended the Trump administration’s policy in a statement to The New York Times, which said, “An awareness day is not a strategy.”

The decision to abandon World AIDS Day comes in the wake of devastating cuts to foreign aid and public health programs, derailing HIV/AIDS care abroad and depriving key scientific research of funding.

About 1.2 million people in the United States live with an HIV or AIDS diagnosis.