Legendary weatherman Al Roker revealed his prostate cancer diagnosis on NBC’s “Today” program Friday in order to raise awareness about how the disease affects African-American men.

During the broadcast, Roker, 66, highlighted the statistic that 1 in 9 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime. African-American men are more at risk of developing the disease.

"It's a good news-bad news kind of thing," Roker said about his diagnosis. "Good news is we caught it early. Not great news is that it's a little aggressive, so I'm going to be taking some time off to take care of this."

Roker urged Black men to get frequent checkups, as the disease can be more easily treated if found early. In 2020, there have been about 191,930 cases of prostate cancer, according to the American Cancer Society, and 33,330 deaths from the disease.

"The problem for African American men is that any number of reasons from genetics to access to health care, and so we want to make it available and let people know they got to get checked," Roker said.

Roker received the diagnosis in September during a rountine checkup. He will undergo an operation to get his prostate taken out.

Roker has undergone multiple surgeries in his life. In September 2019, he had a hip replacement, and in 2018, he underwent an emergency carpal tunnel surgery.

The NBC personality has reported the weather full-time on the “Today” show since 1996. As for his personal life, he has three children and is married to ABC television journalist Deborah Roberts.

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