Pedro Zamora: from ‘Real World’ to legend

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Choire Sicha writes about Pedro Zamora, an HIV-positive Cuban American gay man who died of AIDS the day after 1994’s ‘The Real World: San Francisco’ television season finale aired.

Zamora has inspired an MTV biopic, due to air Wednesday night.

‘The young HIV educator -- he was 22 when he died -- was always on message. He brought a scrapbook of his education work to show his cast mates, immediately lectured them on HIV transmission and took them along on his speaking gigs. And he and his boyfriend, Sean Sasser, had a tear-jerking commitment ceremony before the cameras.

‘That anyone who saw that season’s ‘Real World’ cannot get Zamora’s story out of their minds has led us to ‘Pedro,’ a biopic by MTV and ‘Real World’ creators Bunim-Murray, directed by Nick Oceano — and written by Dustin Lance Black of Oscar-winning ‘Milk’ fame. It airs on MTV Wednesday at 8 p.m., although some members of Congress are getting a sneak-peek screening earlier in the day. That is how big Zamora was. The film also includes a reenactment of then-President Clinton’s phone call of appreciation to Zamora and his family. (On MTV, Clinton will introduce the film.),’ writes Sicha.

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— Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Image: Pedro Zamora, by Ken Probst / MTV Networks