Madonna Calls Trump's World AIDS Day Decision 'Unthinkable'

"I refuse to acknowledge that these people have died in vain," the pop star wrote on Instagram.

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.”