OG Maco Confirms He Doesn’t Have HIV or AIDS

Despite rumors to the contrary that have swept through social media, the Atlanta rapper OG Maco has confirmed that he does not have HIV or AIDS, nor is he suffering from any other “degenerative or deadly diseases.”

In a statement he posted on Instagram, he writes, “Despite the vicious rumors, I am in fine health and have no degenerative or deadly diseases. My best holiday wishes to the person spreading this irresponsible and cruel rumor throughout social media, but know we are unmoved and will not falter in the face [of] such cowardly and underhanded tactics.”

I lost my homie yesterday and now this bullshit. Pray for the world.

A photo posted by Maco Mattox (OG Maco) (@ogxmaco) on Dec 23, 2015 at 10:06am PST

Speculation began after a blind item was posted on the gossip site Baller Alert last night (Dec. 22). The post, “Which Rapper Is Deathly Ill & Refusing Medication?” cites a nine-minute phone call recording, which was uploaded to Youtube earlier this month and appears to be a man admitting his disease to a female friend.

Users on Reddit speculated that the rapper was OG Maco, due to the caller’s voice, and having narrowed the field of possible rappers after Baller Alert said the artist in question was from Atlanta. Posters attempted to make the connection by collecting circumstantial evidence, such as tweets that refer to Maco–who has not publicly listed his given name–as Ben, the apparent name of the male caller, and a tweet posted the day after the call was first uploaded that reads, in part, “This hoe must have a death wish.”

However, there is nothing in the way of reporting that links Maco by name to the phone call, nor have any reliable news outlets verified the authenticity of the recording. Furthermore, while the male voice in the call shares some similarity to Maco’s, no experts have indicated whether the voices are a likely match, or whether or not the audio has been manipulated.

See Best Rap Performance Nominees & Winners at the Grammys Over the Years

Subscribe to XXL on