Honey Boo Boo's Uncle Poodle is HIV-positive

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LOS ANGELES, Jan. 15 (UPI) -- Lee "Uncle Poodle" Thompson from the reality show "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo" told the Atlanta magazine Fenuxe he was diagnosed as HIV-positive last year.

"I was adamant about getting my HIV status checked on a regular basis," the openly gay TV personality said. "On March 16, 2012, I tested negative. Then, in May of 2012, my test results came back positive. I knew it had been my boyfriend who infected me. I later learned he had been HIV-positive and was not taking medication and had not bothered to tell me about it."

Thompson said he pressed charges against his former boyfriend and the man is now serving a five-year prison sentence for knowingly exposing him to the disease, UsMagazine.com reported.

"I would have been cool with his HIV status if he had been honest," Thompson told Fenuxe. "I don't have an issue with the disease. I would have known how to protect myself."

He went on to say everyone, regardless of sexual orientation, should practice safe sex and those who don't "are damn fools."

"They are playing Russian roulette; they are playing with their lives and that of their sexual partners," he said.

Set in Georgia, "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo" is a spinoff of TLC's child beauty pageant show "Toddlers and Tiaras." It follows the outrageous antics of one contestant and her family.