When AIDS Was Funny is a 2015 British short documentary film by Scott Calonico.
[2] The film plays controversial audio of the White House's acting press spokesman, Larry Speakes, responding to questions by making homophobic jokes[3][4] on the escalating AIDS epidemic by journalist Lester Kinsolving.
[5] 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.
[6] 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:[6][7] KINSOLVING: Larry, does the President have any reaction to the announcement—the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, that A-I-D-S is now an epidemic and have over 600 cases?
KINSOLVING: In other words, the White House looks on this as a great joke?
KINSOLVING: No, I mean, I thought you were keeping— SPEAKES: I checked thoroughly with Dr. Ruge this morning and he's had no—(laughter)—no patients suffering from A-I-D-S or whatever it is.