When AIDS Was Funny


When AIDS Was Funny is a 2015 British short documentary film by Scott Calonico.

Summary

The film plays controversial audio of the White House's acting press spokesman, Larry Speakes, responding to questions by making homophobic jokes on the escalating AIDS epidemic by journalist Lester Kinsolving.

Background

The audio recordings are from several of the Reagan administration's press conferences in the 1980s. The audio is juxtaposed with images of AIDS patients at Seattle's Bailey-Boushay House in the 1990s.

1982 exchange

The controversial dismissal of the growing AIDS epidemic is heard in the film through a series of press conferences in the 1980s, such as this 1982 exchange between Speakes and Kinsolving: