And with JVN’s previous trivializing of said awful response:
Queer Eye‘s Jonathan Van Ness has responded to the backlash over his comments about former president Ronald Reagan, reminding his critics: “As a comedian I do joke sometimes.”
The controversial comments were made in a 2018 video in which the Fab Five go to town on Bernie Sanders’ fashion style.
The Netflix stars’ critique quickly veers into politics, and the video ends with Van Ness saying: “And, Ronald Reagan, could he be bothered to mention HIV/AIDS? No, but he could be bothered to put some gel in his hair, and I just feel like that is a thing.”
Reagan has been widely condemned for his approach to HIV/AIDS in the early days of the pandemic, which at the time was known as “the gay plague”.
Although the virus was first identified in 1981, Reagan refused to mention it publicly until 1985, let alone support active measures to contain it. Astonishingly, the Reagan’s administration’s first reaction to the crisis was to treat it as a joke.
In light of this his earlier comments didn’t go down well, with many on Twitter concerned that he was misusing his privileged position to downplay the danger of the AIDS epidemic and Reagan’s policies overall.
https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2019/10/02/jonathan-van-ness-ronald-reagan-hiv-aids-twitter/